IBT Staff Reporter

A new survey says 92.6 percent of affluent families in China which annual income exceeding $25,000 spend about $10,000 in leisure and entertainment every year, according to the research released on Monday by MasterCard International.

Trendy dorm furnishings and stylish cell phones should spur U.S. college students and their parents to spend nearly 9 percent more on back-to-school items this year, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Yahoo Inc may be struggling to convince Wall Street of its future prospects, but for the first time its users gave its services overall a better rating than what Google Inc received, according to a study released on Tuesday.

Phone books that were delivered but never opened rot away next to empty driveways and overgrown lawns, telltale signs that once-booming southwest Florida is now the center of the U.S. housing storm.

Five banks, including Citigroup, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., said on Tuesday they were setting up a trading platform for privately offered stocks, seeking to tap the growing market for non-public shares.

Intervention by central banks has staved off a crisis, but investors need to know more about the true state of U.S. mortgage markets before calm can be restored to markets, a top manager at UBS said.

Home Depot Inc. reported a 15 percent fall in second-quarter profit on Tuesday as quarterly sales fell for the first time in more than four years in the slumping U.S. housing market.

Producer prices rose by a more-than-expected 0.6 percent in July, Labor Department data on Tuesday showed, but the gain was driven by energy costs and core inflation at the producer level grew only slightly.

Stock index futures were little changed on Tuesday before data on inflation that could shed light on the Federal Reserve's next move in dealing with a deteriorating credit environment.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, on Tuesday reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit and cut its full-year earnings forecast, saying its customers remain under economic pressure. Chief Executive Lee Scott blamed the disappointing performance on economic pressure around the world.

The $14 billion Chinese consumer durables major, Haier Co., Ltd. has firmed up its Indian operations by acquiring the manufacturing facility of Anchor Daewoo Electronics in a few hours from Mumbai in Pune, Maharashtra.

India's most valuable company in terms of market capitalization, the Reliance Industries Ltd. has agreed to invest $10 billion in Egypt's oil refining, petrochemicals and plastic industries, according to Egyptian Government officials.

A study has revealed that at least 86 percent of working Indians earn less than Rs. 20 or just under half a U.S. dollar a day in spite of the blistering pace of growth of the nation's economy.

The Bush administration asked a world trade panel on Monday to force China to crack down on pirated goods, like U.S. movies and software.

The New York Philharmonic is considering an official invitation from the North Korean government to perform in Pyongyang, the United States' oldest symphony orchestra said on Monday.

Prudential Financial Inc. has the riskiest investment portfolio, including subprime exposure, among life insurers, while MetLife Inc. and Genworth Financial Inc. should be closely monitored, Citigroup analyst Colin Devine said in a report on Monday.

Consumers spent more boldly than expected last month as declining gasoline prices shielded household budgets, government data showed on Monday. Sales at U.S. retailers rose a slightly more-than-expected 0.3 percent in July and core sales, which strip out car, building materials and gasoline sales, were even stronger, the Commerce Department data showed.

The tightening of the credit markets and fears of a global liquidity crunch have turned a normal summer slowdown in mergers and acquisitions into a deep freeze.

Stocks edged higher on Monday after central banks pumped more cash into the global financial system and a report showed U.S. consumers spent more freely than expected last month.

Blackstone Group LP is finding it more difficult to find new deals as credit markets tighten, which will affect near-term results, President Hamilton James said on Monday.

Facing continued deterioration in the U.S. housing market, upscale home builder Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. said on Monday that it expects to take a charge of $90 million to $110 million related to land impairments and write-offs.

Fugitive U.S. millionaire Jacob 'Kobi' Alexander, who has made political connections and pledged to invest millions of dollars in Namibia, secured another delay in his extradition hearing on Monday.

Central banks in the world's leading economies pumped money for a third day into the financial system on Monday, but in smaller amounts as investor nerves steadied over the dangers of a credit squeeze.

The economy has added non-farm jobs at a steady pace so far this year, but with businesses cutting back on hiring temporary workers, economists say the labor market may be on course to weaken.

As China's export prices rise, a pressing global debate is emerging: is the 'China price' pumping up world inflation?

With world stocks have fallen more than 7 percent in a month and some indexes down more than 10 percent from their highs, some market players are saying the time is near to buy.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs Group said on Monday it and outside investors would pour $3 billion of new capital into Goldman's Global Equity Opportunities fund, a long-short quantitative hedge fund hurt by recent market volatility. In the statement, Goldman acknowledged for the first time that market conditions had led to fund losses.

Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) said on Monday quarterly net income more than tripled -- boosted by merger and real estate deals -- but revenue at the private equity powerhouse fell below analysts' estimates in its first earnings report as a publicly traded company.

Oil prices climbed above $72 a barrel on Monday as calming financial markets on the back of cash injections by central banks worldwide put the spotlight back on robust energy demand expectations.