IBT Staff Reporter

Independent oil and gas company Parallel Petroleum Corp agreed to be bought by Apollo Global Management LLC for $3.15 per share, a premium of 11 percent to Parallel's Monday's close on Nasdaq.

Supermarket operator Kroger Co posted lower-then-expected quarterly profit and trimmed its full-year forecast as it cuts prices to lure customers, sending its shares down 8.2 percent.

Twenty-two years after appearing on the big screen, and one year after the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers, the film character Gordon Gekko continues to resonate on Wall Street.

Teenager Jordan Robinson has faced excruciating pain since a backyard prank went wrong but treatment with virtual reality has given him some relief.

Kraft Foods Inc does not need to sell operations like Oscar Mayer hot dogs, Maxwell House coffee or any of its other brands to afford its $16 billion bid for British confectioner Cadbury , Kraft said on Tuesday.

Trade policies pursued by President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress since the start of the year could lead to the loss of 585,800 U.S. jobs, a study said on Tuesday.

Most U.S. doctors favor having both public and private options in a reformed healthcare system, a survey published on Monday said.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis said a respiratory medicine improved lung function and significantly reduced breathlessness in a late stage trial.

Gabapentin, a drug used to treat seizures, improves the quality of sleep in menopausal women bothered by hot flashes, University of Rochester Medical Center researchers report in the Journal of Women's Health.

U.S. stocks rose modestly on Tuesday after stronger-than-expected retail sales data, though gains were limited by some retailers' disappointing earnings.

Shell International Finance BV on Tuesday launched its $5.0 billion four-part note sale, said IFR, a Thomson Reuters service.

Citigroup on Tuesday set price guidance on its fixed-rate and floating-rate notes backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, said IFR, a Thomson Reuters service.

Jay Leno's new prime-time experiment on the struggling NBC network pulled in big audiences, according to early ratings figures on Tuesday, but mostly underwhelmed TV critics.

Coach Inc said on Tuesday it had hired the head of luxury brand Prada's U.S. operations to run its new Reed Krakoff division, which will sell handbags, shoes and jewelry.

(Corrects Carr's first name to Roger in 5th paragraph)

MetroPCS Communications Inc said it has selected the infrastructure and initial handset providers for its fourth-generation long term evolution broadband service, which is expected to launch in the second half of 2010.

Pulte Homes Inc dominates an annual ranking of customer satisfaction in 24 major U.S. housing markets, according to an annual survey.

Lotus, one of the most successful and glorious names from Formula One's past, will return next year with a Malaysian-owned team replacing BMW-Sauber as the 13th entry on the starting grid.

U.S. stocks were little changed on Tuesday as some retail companies' results and rising credit card defaults overshadowed government data showing stronger-than-expected retail sales last month.

SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner plans to sell shares in the German software company worth up to 240 million euros ($351.2 million) by the end of next year, the company said.

Oil rose on Tuesday after data showing gains in U.S. retail sales and producer prices outweighed concerns about growing U.S. distillate inventories.

Apple Inc tapped former Intel Corp executive Bruce Sewell as its new general counsel and senior vice president of legal and government affairs.

Lloyds Banking Group topped the list for complaints to a consumer watchdog in the first half of the year with payment protection insurance drawing over a quarter of all cases in the finance sector.

Best Buy Co's quarterly profit missed estimates on Tuesday as sales of lower-margin products like notebook computers and promotional efforts to woo shoppers ate into the top U.S. consumer electronics chain's margins.

Italian engineering company Trevi Finanziaria Industriale's order portfolio could rise to 1.2 billion euros ($1.7 billion) by the end of the year, driven by emerging markets, its CFO said on Tuesday.

Biogen Idec Inc said on Tuesday it would be premature to conclude that the risk of developing a potentially deadly brain infection increases the longer patients take its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri.

Supermarket operator Kroger Co posted quarterly profit below Wall Street estimates and trimmed its full-year forecast, sending its shares down 6.3 percent.

SunTrust Banks Inc will repay its $4.9 billion government bailout as soon as regulators allow and its credit problems stabilize, CEO James Wells said on Tuesday.

MSC Software Corp, a simulation and software services company, said it received a revised offer of $8.15 per share from a group of private equity firms after Maximus Holdings raised its offer to $8.