IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, with the Dow dropping more than 1 percent as a disappointing outlook from Hewlett-Packard Co and weak U.S. data added to growing doubts on the strength of the economy.

Oil prices slid more than 2 percent on Tuesday as the dollar strengthened and weak economic data fueled concerns about demand that have helped push prices down by around 15 percent so far in May.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating big banks like Bank of America Corp , Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs related to packaging of toxic mortgage loans into securities, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

Housing starts and building permits fell in April and factory output slumped as an automobile parts shortage crimped production, showing the economy got off to a weak start in the second quarter.

Endeavour spends its first day in orbit performing a standard scan of the space shuttle's thermal protection system using the Orbiter Boom Sensor System.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called on members of his party to be a rock of solidity amid the crisis engulfing left-leaning rival for the presidency Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the current IMF managing director, as he faces charges of sexually attacking a hotel maid in New York.

The United States launched a new initiative Monday designed to stamp the Internet with U.S. values such as freedom of expression, saying cyberspace must remain open, secure and reliable.

Japan's Olympus said on Tuesday that it would give its 2011/12 earnings outlook by the end of June and that it could pull its troubled imaging division back into profit within 12-18 months.

Hewlett-Packard Co slashed its profit outlook as it boosts spending to resuscitate its troubled services business.

Nokia and Siemens are letting two private equity consortia look at the books of Nokia Siemens Networks as they try to sell the joint venture, three people familiar with the matter said.

There are two carved-in-granite long-term economic trends; one of them being the decline of the dollar and the other one being war. I think those are locked in, and so I recommend people buy investments that do well during wartime or during periods of currency debasement, which we have.

The S&P 500 and Dow index futures rose slightly on Tuesday, but gains were capped after disappointing results from Hewlett-Packard.

Glencore is likely to price its record initial public offering at or above 530p ($8.60), sources close to the matter said, valuing the world's largest commodities trader at a minimum of 36.5 billion pounds ($59 billion).

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday, pressured by a stronger dollar and concerns about global growth prospects after a slew of weak economic data, bringing losses to around 15 percent so far in May.

Housing starts and building permits fell in April and factory output slumped as automobile part shortage crimped production, showing the economy off to a weak start in the second quarter.

Social networking company LinkedIn Corp raised the expected price range of its initial public offering by 30 percent on Tuesday, a sign that investors remain eager to bet on social networking companies.

Home Depot Inc reported weaker-than-expected quarterly sales as inclement weather hurt demand for seasonal goods at the start of the spring selling season.

LinkedIn Corp sees its initial public offering being priced about 30 percent higher than previously expected, as investors clamor to get a bite of the social networking pie.

Celebrity photographer Brad Elterman has captured iconic images of Dylan, Bowie, and Lennon, amongst other notable figures, in unique settings from the 70s.

Twitter has spoken - Lady Gaga is a bigger star than Justin Bieber, with at least 10 million Twitter fans compared to Bieber who has only 9.6 million.

Apple's iPad is finally about to get some real competition. At least according to Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder and chief executive of chip designer Nvidia.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq falling below their 50-day moving average, as a negative outlook from Hewlett-Packard Co and weak U.S. economic data raised jitters about the state of the recovery.

LinkedIn Corp, which runs a social network for professionals, said the pricing of its initial public offering was increased by 30 percent, as investors clamour to ride the social networking wave.

Greek debt could undergo a soft restructuring if Athens embarks on major reforms and accelerates privatization to raise funds, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday.

Top home improvement chain Home Depot Inc backed its sales outlook and raised its profit forecast for the year despite a slow start to the key spring selling season, sending its shares up.

A soft restructuring of Greece's sovereign debt is not on the cards, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny told Austrian radio, insisting Greece take the lead on shoring up its finances.

Vodafone, the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, surprised investors with an upbeat outlook for 2012 on Tuesday after posting resilient results driven by customers upgrading to smartphones.

To add to that the shocking news that Schwarzenegger fathered a child with a member of the household staff was revealed today. When Shriver, a broadcast journalist, was informed about this, she split with her husband. She and Schwarzenegger have four children together.

Microsoft has deepened its integration with Facebook to offer more socially refined results through its Bing search engine to tackle Google's search engine algorithm.