INVESTMENT

Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co nudged another step closer to merging with its Euronext-listed fund on Tuesday after the fund received enough support from its unitholders for the deal.

Pension managers and mutual fund houses have been among the biggest buyers of the Dow Jones industrial average in recent weeks, underscoring the growing belief the recession is over, according to an analysis conducted by Thomson Reuters.

Consumer spending continues to decline, as rising unemployment and a prolonged recession force consumers to cut back.

The real estate investment arm of U.S. bank Morgan Stanley (MS.N) aims to sell a Shanghai office building for around 2.5 billion yuan ($366 million) to a Hong-Kong-listed developer, sources said on Tuesday.

Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered unveiled a surprise 1 billion pound ($1.7 billion) fundraising on Tuesday as it beat expectations with a record mid-year pretax profit.

A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ban on so-called flash orders is imminent, a senior lawmaker said on Tuesday -- just before the agency itself said it was drawing up plans to ban the controversial services offered by some stock exchanges.

A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ban on flash trades is imminent, a senior lawmaker said in a statement on Tuesday.

Global private equity funds have found a window of opportunity to invest in Taiwan's financial sector, making acquisitions with the hope of turning a profit when the market opens to China Inc in the years to come.

HSBC Holding Plc, Europe's biggest bank, is in talks to set up an investment banking joint venture in China, a senior bank executive said, adding that acquisition prospects in Asia are too expensive and that the bank will focus on organic growth.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) and Standard Chartered Plc lined up opportunistic buys in Asia, seeking growth in a region expected to lead the world out of recession.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein told employees to avoid making high profile purchases, the New York Post said, citing sources.

U.S. stock futures slipped on Tuesday as investors paused to gauge if the recent run-up will hold, while retreating oil prices looked set to weigh on energy shares.

U.S. stock futures slipped on Tuesday as investors paused to gauge if the recent run-up will hold, while retreating oil prices looked set to weigh on energy shares.

French bank BNP Paribas's revenues from corporate and investment banking nearly doubled in the second quarter as robust investor demand boosted revenues from the bank's fixed income business unit.

Swiss bank UBS posted another big loss in the second quarter as wealthy clients were scared off by a U.S. tax row, but said it hoped to start winning back trust now that a U.S. deal was in sight.

BNP Paribas , France's biggest bank by market value, posted higher second-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by its purchase of Fortis assets, and expressed some optimism over prospects for financial markets.

Stock index futures point to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with the down S&P 500, the Dow and Nasdaq at 0.7 to 0.8 percent at 5:03 a.m. EDT.

Global stocks and commodity prices pulled back on Tuesday as investors paused to assess the state of the economy after pushing them higher in the past two weeks, while the U.S. dollar was broadly flat.

Asian stocks hit an 11-month high on Tuesday before profit taking pulled them back, while the Australian dollar also pared gains after the country's central bank left interest rates unchanged but offered no clues on when tightening would begin.

UBS said it remained cautious about its prospects after client withdrawals spurred by protracted U.S. tax litigation dragged the Swiss bank into another big quarterly loss on Tuesday.

Asian stocks climbed to an 11-month high on Tuesday on hopes a V-shaped recovery may be forming in the United States, while the Australian dollar hit its highest since late September after solid housing and retail sales data.