Caterpillar

Stocks closed modestly lower, but well above intra-day lows, as the tech sector incurred the heaviest losses on fears of Chinese interest rate hikes.

Michelle Obama asks American students to study in China, stressing the need for competitiveness and cooperation

Investigators into the violent and deadly natural gas line explosion in San Bruno, California on Sept. 9, 2010, have discovered that certain pipe segments were welded only from the outside, not from both inside and outside the pipe, the National Transportation Safety Board said today.

Caterpillar Inc.'s (CAT) $7.6 billion-acquisition of rival Bucyrus International is likely to trigger a consolidation of the attractive mining equipment industry.

Stocks on major U.S. indices opened higher as takeovers and faster-than-estimated growth in retail sales fueled optimism in the economy.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Bucyrus International, Isilon Systems, Mediacom Communications, Telestone Technologies, Heartware International, GTSI, Amtech Systems, EDAP TMS, LJ International, and Joy Global.

Caterpillar Inc., which makes earthmoving machinery, agreed to buy rival Bucyrus International for a total of $7.6 billion, or $92 per share, in cash to boost its presence in the mining equipment industry.

Global demand is increasingly shifting to emerging economies, and American firms, especially small businesses, should adjust to this new reality.