IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. manufacturers of business jets, farm machinery and trucks reported earnings on Tuesday that provided fresh hope the economy may be stabilizing as once-crippled credit markets start to mend.

The Dow and S&P indexes rose on Tuesday as earnings at BP Plc lifted energy shares, but results at Chinese Internet search giant Baidu.com and weaker-than expected consumer confidence data pushed the Nasdaq lower.

The Gloved One looks likely to have a posthumous hit at the box office this weekend.

China Unicom said on Monday it will limit the sales for the long-awaited iPhone on October 30, the first day the eagerly sought Apple handset is due to go on sale nationwide in China.

U.S. steelmakers reported better-than-expected third-quarter results on Tuesday but they restated their gloomy short-term views for the industry and the economy and their shares fell.

A mob of angry parents lynched a book salesman and badly injured four of his colleagues after rumors spread that the men were part of a human smuggling ring, the official Xinhua agency said late Monday.

Troubled lender Amcore Financial Inc posted a seventh straight quarterly loss, hurt by higher provisions, and said it was significantly undercapitalized, sending its shares down 42 percent.

Wall Street analysts on Tuesday cut their price targets on Baidu Inc, after China's dominant search engine forecast a sequential decline in fourth-quarter revenue due to the transition to a new Internet advertising technology.

Japan's Honda Motor Co exuded optimism while Germany's Daimler AG spread gloom about the outlook for car markets on Tuesday, highlighting the patchy nature of any post-crisis rebound.

Britain will damage its economy if it does not follow France and clamp down on Internet piracy, the boss of entertainment and telecoms group Vivendi said on Tuesday.

Algerian state-owned telecoms firm Algerie Telecom will spend $6 billion to upgrade its fixed-line and mobile operations over the next five years, the firm's deputy chief executive told Reuters on Tuesday.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn said on Tuesday he will offer to smaller holders of CIT Group's debt short-term protection against the value of the debt declining, if investors back his alternative restructuring of the beleaguered lender.

Hospital products and generic drugmaker Hospira Inc on Tuesday said quarterly net earnings rose 42 percent, fueled by a new product launch, and it raised its full-year profit forecast.

DineEquity Inc, parent of the IHOP and Applebee's restaurants, posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by lower borrowing costs and falling food prices.

Automotive chassis maker Spartan Motors Inc posted a quarterly profit in line with expectations as revenue fell 62 percent.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp sees more acquisition opportunities in Europe than in Asia, the head of the world's largest custodian of financial assets said on Tuesday.

Japanese banks Sumitomo Trust and Chuo Mitsui Trust Holdings are in merger talks, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, bringing together two struggling trust banks to better compete in Japan's lucrative asset management industry.

Police have arrested two suspects in connection with the gang rape of a bay area teenager who was brutally raped after her homecoming dance in Richmond on Saturday, ABC reported.

Shares in Dutch bancassurer ING Group NV fell for a second day on Tuesday, as analysts said a pending 7.5 billion euro rights issue was likely to result in a 50 percent dilution for current shareholders.

U.S. Steel Corp posted a third straight quarterly loss on Tuesday, but it was narrower than Wall Street expected as the company shipped more steel than in the previous quarter in a possible sign demand is coming back from the economic downturn.

U.S. stocks fell in choppy trading on Tuesday as a worse-than-expected consumer confidence report overshadowed earlier data that showed home prices rose for the fourth-straight month.

U.S. soft drinks maker PepsiCo Inc won European Union regulatory approval on Tuesday to buy bottlers Pepsi Bottling Group Inc and PepsiAmericas Inc, deals that will help it cut costs and boost profits.

Tweeters are being invited to submit questions for the spirits of departed celebrities including Michael Jackson and William Shakespeare as part of the world's first Twitter seance.

U.S. consumer confidence fell to lower-than-expected levels in October, amid growing concerns that job market conditions will worsen in the near term, according to a report released on Tuesday.

Billionaire investors Carl Icahn said on Tuesday he will offer smaller holders of CIT Group's debt short term protection against the value of the debt declining, if investors back his alternative restructuring of the beleaguered lender.

Japan's Honda Motor Co exuded optimism while Germany's Daimler AG spread gloom about the outlook for car markets on Tuesday, highlighting the patchy nature of any post-crisis rebound.

The foreign ministers of Russia, China and India said on Tuesday that the world must remain engaged in Afghanistan, with Moscow seeking a greater role for regional powers in stabilising the war-torn country.

The European Union agreed on Tuesday to impose an arms embargo on Guinea over the killing of anti-government protesters and said it would restrict the travel and freeze the assets of individuals involved.

Google Inc has introduced a new feature that will allow consumers to use its Google Voice service without switching to a special phone number, potentially broadening the appeal of the nascent, and controversial, service.