IBT Staff Reporter

Smithfield Foods Inc reported a much larger quarterly loss on Tuesday, due to low hog prices, H1N1 flu and soft export demand for pork.

Emerging markets stocks hit a new year high on Tuesday, rising to levels last seen before the Lehman Brothers collapse, and world stocks headed firmly toward a new 2009 peak.

Oil prices rose above $69 a barrel on Tuesday as spot gold crossed a psychological threshold and ahead of an OPEC meeting analysts said would see more target compliance rhetoric but no change in output limits.

Britain's Cadbury has few options but to look for a higher bid and more cash after Kraft's 10.2 billion pound ($16.7 billion) offer for the world's No 2 confectionery group, analysts said on Tuesday.

Brookfield Incorporacoes, the Brazilian real estate unit of Canada's Brookfield Asset Management (BAMa.TO)(BAM.N), plans to sell about 600 million reais ($326 million) of stock, Valor Economico newspaper reported, without citing a source for the information.

A major shareholder in China's Lenovo , the world's No. 4 PC maker, plans to sell 292 million shares at HK$3.55-3.57 per share, according to sources with knowledge of the deal, a discount of 2.5-3 percent from Tuesday's close.

Honda Motor Co will maintain the target for lease sales of its newest fuel-cell car after over a year since its launch despite the challenge of boosting productivity, the model's chief engineer said.

Jay-Z will release his much-anticipated album

Artists including R&B stars Mary J. Blige, Akon and Chris Brown as well as veterans Natalie Cole and Sister Sledge will perform at the ViennaMichael Jackson tribute concert later this month, organizers said on Tuesday.

Gold powered through the $1,000 per ounce psychological barrier on Tuesday, carried by a wave of pent-up technical momentum and dollar weakness, with some analysts eyeing last year's record high at $1,030.80.

Danish industrial enzymes producer Novozymes, which is pinning big hopes on producing enzymes for biofuels, said it expected U.S. bioethanol production to hold up well in the second half of this year.

British singer-songwriters Florence and the Machine and Bat for Lashes are among the front-runners competing on Tuesday for the Mercury Prize, one of Britain's most prestigious annual music awards.

The two surviving brothers of the Bee Gees are preparing to perform together again, six years after the death of their brother and third Bee Gee, Maurice Gibb, according to media reports.

A forward-looking measure of hiring intentions dipped slightly in the United States even as it improved in many other countries, according to a quarterly survey by Manpower Inc.

Research in Motion Ltd Co-Chief Executive James Balsillie increased his bid for the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes ice hockey team by $30 million to $242.5 million, court documents showed.

Japanese videogame creator Square Enix Holdings Co said it would launch the latest edition of its Final Fantasy game series on December 17 in Japan, which may help sales of Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 in the key shopping season.

NICE Systems, the global provider of advanced solutions that enable organizations to extract insight from interactions to drive performance, today announced that it has received follow on orders from Cherokee Nation Entertainment (CNE) for its NiceVision video surveillance solution.

Oil prices rose above $69 a barrel on Tuesday ahead of an OPEC meeting, which analysts said would see more target compliance rhetoric but no change in output limits.

Gold powered through the $1,000 per ounce psychological barrier on Tuesday, carried by a wave of pent-up technical momentum and dollar weakness, with some analysts eyeing last year's record high at $1,030.80.

AOL Inc, the Internet unit of Time Warner Inc, said on Tuesday it has appointed former Yahoo Inc executive Brad Garlinghouse as president of its Web and mobile communications group.

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom have launched exclusive talks to merge their British mobile units in a joint venture that would grab the top spot in the cut-throat UK market.

Airlines and their suppliers are reporting tentative signs that a severe industry recession is bottoming out, sending shares higher on Tuesday.

China's Commerce Ministry has not rejected heavy equipment maker Tengzhong's planned purchase of GM's GM.UL Hummer unit, but has asked for more information on the deal, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Wall Street was set to enjoy a positive return to trading on Tuesday after the Labor Day holiday, according to stock index futures.

Two Wal-Mart China employees were detained in southern China following the death of a customer, whom employees followed and pushed to the ground after suspecting her of shoplifting, according to a police website.

Data in the coming week should deliver more proof that a global recovery is at hand, but policy-makers are facing up to how sub-par growth over the long haul might constrain their policy choices.

When Richard Fuld was pressed about why he wouldn't defend himself and try to preempt some of the negative press before the anniversary of his former firm's collapse, he said: No. Because I don't want to. I promised myself I wouldn't.

Oil at close to $70 means OPEC will almost certainly keep existing output cuts in place when it meets in Vienna on Wednesday, although it could seek to tighten compliance with existing targets, ministers and delegates said.

Switzerland knocked the United States off the position as the world's most competitive economy as the crash of the U.S. banking system left it more exposed to some long-standing weaknesses, a report said on Tuesday.