IBT Staff Reporter

Diversified manufacturer 3M Co sounded a warning on Tuesday, telling Wall Street that Europe's brewing debt crisis and weakening consumer demand were taking a toll on profit.

3M Co's quarterly earnings fell well short of expectations due to weakness in the electronics market, the debt crisis in Europe and inventory-reduction moves by its customers, sending the company's shares down 6 percent in early trading.

Stocks fell on Tuesday on news that a meeting by euro zone finance ministers was canceled, adding to doubts about the region's efforts to tackle its debt crisis.

Occupy Oakland became the latest of the world-wide Occupy protests to have serious run-ins with local police.

Chris Pronger's injury Monday night looked gruesome, leaves player out at least two weeks.

President Barack Obama's student loans deal will be announced in Denver on Wednesday, Business Day reports. The plan will not require any action from congress, and will announced in tandem with a new plan to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgage.

Swiss bank UBS AG overcame a 1.8 billion Swiss franc ($2 billion) rogue trading loss to post a smaller than forecast fall in third quarter net profit on Tuesday as its core wealth management business performed well.

Hutchison 3G, the mobile phone operator of Hutchison Whampoa, is in talks to buy the Austrian assets of France Telecom's Orange, a banking source said on Tuesday, as part of its efforts to expand its footprint overseas.

Consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped to its lowest level in two-and-a-half years in October as consumers fretted about job and income prospects.

Xerox Corp's. profit and revenue rose in third-quarter as it signed more long-term deals to provide business services to companies.

Consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped in October to its lowest level in two-and-a-half years as consumers fretted about job and income prospects, according to a private sector report released on Tuesday.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced growing pressure Tuesday over European Union demands for economic reforms with his main coalition partner warning the government could fall over the issue.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced growing pressure Tuesday over European Union demands for economic reforms with his main coalition partner warning the government could fall over the issue.

Stock index futures pared earlier gains to trade flat on Tuesday following comments from Germany's Chancellor that the country is opposed to phrase in a final draft for the region's summit.

Italy's divided government kept Europe waiting on Tuesday for long delayed economic reforms that are central to efforts to confront the euro zone's worsening debt crisis.

It would be easier to deal with the euro zone debt crisis if more firepower was available, European Central Bank Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said, calling for a backstop relative to the severity of the current troubles.

United Parcel Service reported a higher quarterly profit as margins improved in the face of flat domestic shipping volume dulled by a sluggish economy, and it affirmed its outlook for record 2011 results.

New computer virus sets off a wave of fear, speculation.

In the deep Mariana Trench, our planet's deepest part of the ocean, scientists have just discovered giant amoebas that have adapted to the most extreme of conditions.

2,000-year-old mystery of a huge supernova solved by two NASA telescopes.

Google Inc. is reportedly gearing up to launch a music downloading service sometime in the next two weeks that it will link to its Google+ social network. The application - currently referred to as Google Music - will be an extension of Google Music Beta, a free service that allows users to store their existing music collection in the cloud.

Novartis AG is slashing 2,000 jobs in Switzerland and the United States to keep costs under control in the face of growing price pressures and the strong Swiss franc, the Swiss drugmaker said on Tuesday.

The Bank of Canada held its key interest rate steady on Tuesday and dropped any mention of the need to raise rates, as the weak global economy forced it to cut sharply its growth and inflation projections.

Chemical maker DuPont posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday due to a double-digit price hike and raised its 2011 earnings forecast, pushing its shares up more than 1 percent.

Herman Cain leads Mitt Romney in the latest CBS News-New York Times poll, the latest of numerous surveys to show him on top of the Republican field -- but four out of five voters say their allegiance could still change.

Julian Assange is now announcing a temporary suspension of the website's publishing efforts. By the end of the year, WikiLeaks could face shut down due to financial blockades from several major banks and credit card companies, some of which include Visa, Western Union, MasterCard, and PayPal.

Blizzard's Annual Pass comes with great rewards, but comes at a great price.

Single-family home prices were unchanged in August, pointing to a market that continued to stabilize but has yet to gain traction, a closely watched survey said on Tuesday.

An international drive against offshore tax havens has reaped nearly 14 billion euros from would-be tax evaders, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Tuesday.