IBT Staff Reporter

President Barack Obama sought to reassure Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday of his commitment to boosting U.S. ties with India even as his administration has set its rivals, China and Pakistan, as top priorities.

J Crew Group Inc reported a quarterly net profit far above Wall Street estimates due to strong autumn sales of clothing and expanded profit margins from depressed year-ago levels.

Top U.S. booksellers Barnes & Noble Inc and Borders Group Inc will pay a price for coming late to market with electronic book readers, analysts said..

J Crew Group Inc reported a quarterly net profit far above Wall Street estimates due to strong autumn sales and expanded profit margins from depressed year-ago levels.

The government-run fund that safeguards U.S. bank deposits tumbled to a negative balance of $8.2 billion in the third quarter, as the number of problem banks surged by a third to 552.

An auction of personal art and furniture once belonging to late French fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent and French businessman Pierre Berge raised $14.45 million, three times the amount expected.

American International Group Inc , the insurer that received billions of dollars in a U.S. bailout, has been authorized by its board to pay Chief Executive Robert Benmosche's $7 million compensation, after it laid to rest concerns that he may quit the post.

U.S. central bankers, meeting in early November, said they expected consumers to continue or even boost savings in the next few quarters while anticipating an elevated unemployment rate over the next few years.

J Crew Group Inc said on Tuesday that quarterly net profit surged above Wall Street estimates due to strong autumn sales at the upscale apparel retail and expanded profit margins from depressed year-ago levels.

Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday its Chief Financial Officer, Chris Liddell, will leave the company at the end of this year to pursue a new job. Liddell, 51, joined Microsoft as CFO in 2005. He has been widely recognized as a force behind cutting $3 billion in costs in the past year after the economic downturn left a dent in Microsoft's profits.

Barnes & Noble Inc cut its full-year forecast on expectations of a tough holiday season and high costs for its Nook electronic reader, while rival Borders Group Inc posted a wider-than-expected loss. Shares of both booksellers fell sharply.

Adam Lambert said Tuesday he is a sexual person, and his controversial performance at the American Music Awards was purely reflecting who he is, the singer said in an interview with Ryan Seacrest.

Rupert Murdoch has spent months complaining that Google is ruining the newspaper business, and now he wants to do something about it. But, his proposal is a gamble, and one that could hurt News Corp instead of helping it.

Any threat by the United States to slap fees on imports from countries it perceives as weak on cutting carbon emissions could hamper trade relations and delay international efforts to combat global warming.

California on Tuesday released draft rules for its landmark greenhouse gas cap-and-trade plan that will be the most ambitious U.S. effort to use the market to address global warming.

The controversy over a controversial an offensive image of Fist Lady Michelle Obama grew after Internet search leader Google said that the fact that certain images appear in its search engine results does not reflect the opinion of the company.

A federal judge has barred the promotion of a scheme designed to help clients evade taxes on more than $1.25 billion in asset sales, the U.S. government said on Tuesday.

Boxer Francisco Paco Rodriguez, who passed away after a ferocious fight against Teon Kennedy last Friday, was remembered by the boxing community over the weekend.

Half of the losses suffered by banks could still be hidden in their balance sheets, more so in Europe than in the United States, the International Monetary Fund's chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Federal securities regulators won an insider trading case when a jury in Boston ruled that a former Fidelity employee illegally profited from trading stocks that the mutual fund giant was buying for itself.

Federal Reserve officials are increasingly confident the U.S. economic recovery will be durable, but do not see employment or inflation picking up soon, minutes from their November meeting showed.

The next European Commission, the powerful regulatory arm of the European Union, should be in place by the end of January, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday.

Federal Reserve officials are increasingly confident the U.S. economic recovery will be durable, but do not see employment or inflation picking up soon, minutes from their November meeting showed.

Facebook has established a dual-class stock structure to ensure voting control by existing owners, but has no plans to become a public company, it said on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday on lackluster economic data in a session marked by low volume and choppy trading, but losses eased after the Federal Reserve raised its expectations for growth in 2010.

Sales of new U.S. single-family houses likely climbed in October, but forecasts varied widely on the impact of the first-time homebuyer tax credit, a Reuters survey found.

The family of 25-year old boxer Francisco Paco Rodriguez, who died from a brain injury last Sunday, will donate some of his organs to at least eight people including his uncle, ESPN reported.

The Australian Dollar opens lower today against the greenback at 0.9202. The risk appetite that buoyed the Aussie on Monday night evaporated yesterday after news emerged from China that it's banking regulator issued a stern warning to banks regarding strict adherence to capital requirements or face sanctions.

Federal Reserve officials are increasingly confident in a durable recovery for the U.S. economy, even though they do not see employment picking up soon, according to minutes from their November meeting released on Tuesday.