INVESTMENT

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), the largest maker of construction and mining equipment, reported a 29 percent jump in its first-quarter profit that topped analysts' estimates and boosted its full-year outlook, as U.S. builders replaced their aging machinery and demand for mining equipment boomed.

In a joint military exercise, nearly 7,000 U.S. and Philippine troops staged combat maneuvers in the disputed South China Sea region.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) won back its investment-grade credit rating Tuesday from Fitch Ratings on the automaker's significantly improved financial performance, balance sheet repair and product portfolio improvement.

Over the past three decades, South Korea has catapulted itself from Third World-caliber poverty to becoming a technologically superior economic powerhouse.

Newcrest Mining, the world's No.3 gold miner, on Tuesday cut its production forecast for this year, saying its major projects had struggled to reach output targets.

B. Robert Williamson, portfolio manager at Chilton Investment Co., was found dead in his car Sunday in North Carolina. He was 55.

PSA Peugeot Citroen may build cars in India with General Motors its new partner, said Gregoire Olivier, Peugeot's head of Asian operations, according to a Reuters report. The move would effectively discard its planned $850 million investment in its own manufacturing facility in India, Reuters report said.

Just three years into the bull market and in an environment of low interest rates and subdued sentiment, the U.S. stock market's valuation is already too rich, say asset management firm GMO LLC's Ben Inker and other investment experts

Delphi Automotive Plc (DLPH) reported earnings per share of $1.04 for the first quarter of 2012 on Tuesday, up 247 percent since last year, and beating analyst predictions as revenue and income rose for the automotive electronics supplier.

Sarah Burge, known as the Human Barbie for the immense amount of plastic surgery procedures she has underwent, first made headlines for giving her seven-year-old daughter Poppy gift certificates for breast implants and liposuction. Now, the 51-year-old mother has plans to hold children's parties in a Botox clinic to give young girls the wow factor through makeovers. The makeovers would be held at the clinic where typically cosmetic injections and plastic surgery are performed ...

Ever since Japan began challenging the United States as the leading automobiles and consumer electronics manufacturer in the 1980s, a debate has been raging over whether America's days as the preeminent manufacturing nation in the world are coming to an end. It would only intensify in the next two decades, when another Asian giant, China, emerged as a manufacturing power.

SmartGrid GB includes British Telecom, General Electric, IBM and Scottish Power, Siemens and Toshiba.

Asian shares inched up on Tuesday but gains were limited as political uncertainty and disappointing data in Europe raised fears the euro zone could struggle to push through austerity measures and may stay in recession until late in the year.

Asian shares fell Tuesday as political uncertainty and disappointing data in Europe raised fears the euro zone could struggle to push through austerity measures and may stay in recession until late in the year.

Expensive federal food stamp programs have become a hot-button issue in recent weeks, and a Senate bill now in the works ensures that the highly politicized congressional debate is only just beginning.

A steady drip of bad news swelled into a river of losses for European equities Monday, as stock markets across the continent -- some already battered in previous weeks -- experienced significant declines.

A steady drip of bad news swelled into a river of losses for European equities Monday, as stock markets across the continent -- some already battered in previous weeks -- experienced significant declines.

Mergers and acquisitions are proliferating globally as low interest rates, large cash piles and depressed asset prices create opportunities for expanding market share and restructuring.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir met with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao Monday in Beijing as the young African nation seeks investment for an alternate pipeline that would allow it to circumvent exporting oil through its northern rival Sudan.

Banco Santander SA, Spain's biggest bank and the euro zone's largest bank by market value, is preparing to sell part of its rapidly-expanding Mexican operations via an initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

China’s manufacturing activity improved in April compared to March but continued to contract for the sixth straight month, according to the preliminary HSBC flash Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) released Monday.