IBT Staff Reporter

Standard & Poor's cut its unsolicited ratings on Italy by one notch on Tuesday, a surprise move that sharply increases strains on the debt-stressed euro zone and piles pressure on policymakers to take more decisive action to resolve the crisis.

China must reduce barriers to foreign companies if it is to meet its own development goals, the U.S. ambassador said in Beijing on Tuesday in a speech that reflected foreign investors' growing frustration with the pace of economic reforms in the country.

Standard & Poor's cut its unsolicited ratings on Italy by one notch on Tuesday, a surprise move that sharply increases strains on the debt-stressed euro zone and piles pressure on policymakers to take more decisive action to resolve the crisis.

UBS AG Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel will seek a vote of confidence at a board meeting in Singapore for plans to slash the investment banking division that caused a $2.3 billion loss due to unauthorized trading, a Swiss newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Securities regulators have sent subpoenas to hedge funds and other trading firms as it probes possible insider trading before the U.S. government's long-term credit rating was cut last month, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Stocks and the euro fell on Tuesday after ratings agency S&P downgraded Italy and as Greece held talks with creditors to avoid running out of cash within weeks, amid worries that Europe's debt woes will trigger a full-blown banking crisis.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked companies like Dow Chemicals , Fortune Brands , Caterpillar and CIT Group to disclose the amount of cash they hold offshore, the Financial Times reported.

Bank of China, a big market-maker in China's onshore foreign exchange market, has stopped foreign exchange forwards and swaps trading with several European banks due to the unfolding debt crisis in Europe, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Scientists have found a way to prevent HIV from damaging the immune system and say their discovery may offer a new approach to developing a vaccine against AIDS.

Samsung Electronics Co is considering legal action to ban sales of Apple's new iPhone, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, in what could be its strongest step to defend against claims by the U.S. firm that the South Korean firm had copied its product designs.

The new BCCI president N. Srinivasan on Monday ruled out any formal inquiry into the team's abysmal performance on their tour of England.

The proposed food security bill will likely cost an annual 1 trillion rupees ($20.7 billion), the Financial Express quoted the food minister as saying, as the government looks to scale up production and storage of subsidised grain to feed more of the country's poor.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is considering filing a case or multiple cases against Reliance Industries over its operations of its gas block in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin, the Mint reported on Tuesday.

Standard and Poor's cut its unsolicited ratings on Italy by one notch, warning of a deteriorating growth outlook and damaging political uncertainty, in a move that took markets by surprise and added to pressure on the debt-stressed euro zone.

About 48,500 General Motors Co workers at U.S. factories will begin considering the details of a proposed four-year contract on Tuesday that represents the first labor deal for the automaker since its 2009 bailout by the Obama administration.

Asian stocks and the euro fell on Tuesday after ratings agency S&P downgraded Italy and as Greece held talks with creditors to avoid running out of cash within weeks, amid worries that Europe's debt woes will pitch the global financial system into a full-blown banking crisis.

Goodrich Corp shares surged 16 percent on Monday as diversified U.S. manufacturer United Technologies Corp negotiated terms for a potential purchase of the aircraft components maker.

The Swiss parliament piled pressure on the nation's biggest banks on Monday in the wake of UBS AG's $2.3 billion loss from rogue trading, as a center-left party pushed for a ban on risky investment banking and a plan to raise capital requirements passed the lower house.

Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, one of the Europe's biggest hedge fund managers, may return about $2 billion to investors in the firm's biggest fund to avoid growing too large, Bloomberg said, citing four people familiar with the matter.

Japan hopes to explain its stance on the strong yen and how it is hurting the country's economy at this week's Group of 20 finance leaders' gathering, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said on Tuesday.

Brazil will propose that it and other large emerging market countries make billions of dollars in new funds available to the International Monetary Fund as a way to help ease the crisis in the euro zone, an official said on Monday.

China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, will keep buying U.S. Treasuries, the official People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece reported on Tuesday, citing government researchers.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut Italy's sovereign credit rating by one notch, saying the country's economic growth prospects were getting weaker and planned reforms by the government would not help much.

To hear mining executives tell it, gold prices have nowhere to go but up as investors flock to the yellow metal to hedge against the languishing global economy.

A group that includes two founders of Groupon has bought the Wrigley Building, one of the most recognizable buildings in Chicago.

Siemens withdrew deposits from a large French bank two weeks ago and transferred them to the European Central Bank, in the search for a safe haven, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The Canadian government looked set to legislate Air Canada's flight attendants back to work if last-ditch contract talks break down, because of concern that a strike would damage a still-fragile economy.

International lenders told Greece on Monday it must shrink its public sector to avoid running out of money within weeks, as investors spooked by political setbacks in Europe dumped risky euro zone assets.

Nokia Siemens Networks unveiled on Tuesday its new Liquid technology which promises to ease telecom network congestion and possibly change the market for such equipment for good.