IBT Staff Reporter

Ford Motor Co. said on Tuesday it would boost output in Russia to 125,000 cars per year by 2009 from 72,000 as it seeks to satisfy booming demand in Europe's fastest growing major car market.

The Dutch Supreme Court will issue its ruling on ABN AMRO's suspended sale of its U.S. unit LaSalle on Friday and the decision could sway an acrimonious takeover battle for the Dutch bank.

Home improvement retailer Home Depot cut its 2007 earnings outlook on Tuesday, citing weakness in the U.S. housing market and said it was launching a tender offer for 250 million shares.

BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc, the world's biggest miner, is in talks with private equity firms to team up for a possible $40 billion bid for U.S. aluminum company Alcoa Inc., the Times said on Tuesday.

China posted a record trade surplus of $26.9 billion in June as exporters rushed shipments ahead of tax rebate cuts, handing more ammunition to critics who say Beijing's weak currency gives it an unfair trade advantage.

Sears Holdings Corp. on Tuesday said it expects lower profit for its second quarter and added its board approved the repurchase of up to an additional $1 billion of common stock.

UK private equity firm Cinven is buying Spain's USP Hospitales for 675 million euros ($920 million) to expand its private hospital portfolio after acquiring 25 in Britain less than a month ago.

Flat screen maker LG.Philips LCD Co. Ltd. swung to a quarterly profit after demand began to pick up, ending a run of four straight losing quarters, and forecast further price gains for the third quarter.

Taiwan's army has selected Boeing Co. over Bell Helicopter to supply 30 attack helicopters in a deal worth more than $1.5 billion, a defense official said on Tuesday.

Money is pouring into foreign stocks, putting more downward pressure on an already weak yen.

Johnson & Johnson said on Monday it will repurchase up to $10 billion of its common stock in the largest buyback in its history, sending its shares almost 2 percent higher.

Surging cellphone demand from emerging markets is expected by analysts to have cemented Nokia's leading position in the April-June quarter, while third-placed Samsung is seen closing the gap on Motorola.

Data storage company EMC Corp.'s subsidiary, VMware, said it expects its initial public offering to be priced between $23 and $25 per share.

Private equity firm Carlyle Group said on Monday it would buy aircraft and auto parts maker Sequa Corp. for $2 billion.

Credit Suisse analysts estimated banks could lose up to $52 billion over time due to their exposure to collateralized debt obligations that invested in U.S. subprime mortgages.

Rupert Murdoch, who is pursuing a $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co., will be the center of attention when the world's biggest media chiefs gather this week at the 25th annual Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Americans reached for their credit cards with gusto in May after an April lull, sending overall U.S. consumer borrowing up by $12.90 billion -- more than twice the forecast rise, a Federal Reserve Board report showed on Monday.

Just as U.S. drivers were getting used to falling gasoline prices, pump costs increased for the first time in six weeks, the government said on Monday.

French food group Danone offered 12.3 billion euros ($16.8 billion) for Dutch rival Numico to forge what it said will be the world's largest health and nutrition company.

Foreigners don't have a high opinion of the United States, owing to the war in Iraq, but that hasn't done much to deter a ferocious appetite for American goods and services, as had been expected.

Shareholders of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. and CBOT Holdings Inc. on Monday voted convincingly to merge the two giant futures exchanges under one roof.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) said on Monday that it will acquire the web-based security company Postini for $625 million as it adds to its suite of online accessible applications.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has garnered much attention with the release of its highly anticipated iPhone mobile phone, but one analysts suggested on Monday that the company will now shift its attention back to its iPod music player.

Shares of Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCHN) surged on Monday after the company reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit.

Sony Corp. slashed the price of its next-generation Playstation 3 game console late Sunday as it attempts to regain market share lost to rivals Microsoft and Nintendo.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn's American Real Estate Partners LP raised its takeover offer for Lear Corp. to about $3 billion, but the auto parts maker's second biggest shareholder remained unconvinced.

Shareholders wrap up voting on Monday on a merger deal that would combine the parents of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade to create the world's largest derivatives exchange.

Bayer AG's experimental pill rivaroxaban is significantly more effective than standard injections of Lovenox in preventing blood clots after knee surgery, researchers said on Sunday.

An escalating dispute between Airbus and jet-engine supplier General Electric Co could delay deliveries of the European airplane maker's A350 extra wide body jet, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday.