BUSINESS

Permits for homebuilding neared a 3.5-year high in February, suggesting a budding recovery in the housing market was still on track even though groundbreaking activity slipped.

JPMorgan Chase & Co agreed to pay $150 million to settle a lawsuit by pension funds and other investors accusing the largest U.S. bank of imprudently investing their cash in a risky debt vehicle that collapsed in 2008.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday after a 3-day winning streak for the S&P 500 on concerns that China's economy may be slowing down.

Glencore , the world's largest commodities trader, is buying Canada's leading grain handler, Viterra , in a cash deal valuing it at C$6.1 billion ($6.2 billion).

Even though the app is only five weeks old, the turn-based Pictionary-style game called Draw Something, created and developed by New York-based gaming company OMGPOP, has risen to the top of the iOS and Android App Stores. The addictive drawing and guessing game boasts 25 million registered users, 10 million active daily users, and almost 1 billion paid ad impressions per day.

Stocks fell at the open on Tuesday as equities paused after a 3-day winning streak for the S&P 500, which came within 10 percent of a historic closing high.

Commodities trader Glencore , backed by partners Richardson International and Agrium Inc , has agreed to buy Canada's Viterra in a cash deal valuing the country's largest grain handler at C$6.1 billion ($6.2 billion).

Stock were set for a lower open on Tuesday as equities appeared ready to pause after the S&P 500 advanced for a third straight session, moving within 10 percent of its historic closing high.

Permits for U.S. homebuilding neared a 3-1/2 year high in February, even as groundbreaking activity slipped, suggesting a nascent recovery in the housing market was still on track.

Stock index futures fell on Tuesday ahead of housing market data after the S&P 500 advanced for a third straight session, moving within 10 percent of its historic closing high.

Stock index futures fell on Tuesday ahead of housing market data after the S&P 500 advanced for a third straight session, moving within 10 percent of its historic closing high.

Greece's current account deficit shrank 46 percent year on year in January, helped by a smaller trade gap, the country's central bank said on Tuesday, in a rare bit of good news for the recession-hit economy.

Swiss bankers are on the defensive with their secretive industry under sustained attack for sheltering tax dodgers. Some cannot travel abroad for fear of arrest in tax investigations.

Critics of China's foreign exchange regime have shifted their focus from the value of the yuan to the mechanism in which its day-to-day level is set, the head of the OECD said on Tuesday, a fresh sign that currency may be near its equilibrium level.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Tuesday ahead of housing market data after the S&P 500 advanced for a third straight session, moving within 10 percent of its historic closing high.

France's data protection watchdog has given internet search group Google Inc three weeks to answer questions about its new privacy policy, as part of a Europe-wide investigation being led by the French regulator.

Glencore International will resume operations at the only copper refinery in the Philippines by June or July, six months after a fire halted its operations, a company official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Royal Bank of Scotland is closing its equity capital market and corporate finance units in South Korea and cash equities businesses in Indonesia, Singapore and Korea, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The owners of the New York Mets agreed to pay $162 million to settle a lawsuit by the trustee seeking money for the victims of Bernard Madoff's fraud, a deal that eases pressure on the owners of the cash-strapped baseball team.

Berkshire Hathaway won dismissal on Monday of a shareholder lawsuit that stemmed from allegations former executive David Sokol profited by violating the company's insider trading policy.

Victims of Allen Stanford's estimated $7 billion Ponzi scheme won a victory when a federal appeals court said they may pursue class-action litigation against third parties they believe aided in the now-convicted swindler's fraud.

Hamburger chain Wendy's Co knocked Burger King Corp from its spot as the second-largest U.S. hamburger chain in 2011, but sales of both companies continued to lag McDonald's Corp , the country's No. 1 restaurant chain.

The Treasury Department said on Monday it made a $25 billion profit on sales of mortgage-backed securities acquired during the financial crisis, part of its ongoing efforts to wind down taxpayer-financed bailout programs.

Investors showed scant faith in Greece's ability to cut its colossal debt after an auction on Monday which handed insured holders of defaulted bonds a large payout.

The S&P 500 extended its rally on Monday to climb within 10 percent of its historic closing high, after Apple said it would pay a $10 billion annual dividend and buy back stock.

A federal appeals court will wait until late September to review U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff's rejection of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud settlement with Citigroup Inc over mortgage investments.

The Federal Reserve has not yet decided whether to embark on a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, though it remains an option, an influential Fed official said on Monday.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has not yet decided whether to embark on a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, though it remains an option, an influential Fed official said on Monday.

U.S. stocks rose on Monday with the S&P 500 now less than 10 percent away from its historic closing high of October 2007, buoyed by Apple after the company said it will pay a dividend and buy back stock.