ECONOMY & MARKETS

Upscale apparel and accessories retailers have been consistently outperforming the rest of the retail market, as they've been able to simultaneously roll back discounts and increase sales. A spike in sales for the most expensive of offerings, and at branded outlets, belies a more sinister reason for the surge: growing income inequality.

South Africa's monetary policy will maintain its focus on hitting a 3-6 percent inflation target over the medium term but will remain sensitive to the domestic economic situation, Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus said on Tuesday.

As quickly as Occupy Wall Street protesters swept into Manhattan's Duarte Park Tuesday morning, scaling a wall and cutting their way through a chain-link fence to gain access to a private section owned by a nearby church, the NYPD cleared them out.

The Kenyan shilling reversed early gains to close weaker against the dollar for the second straight session on Tuesday, hurt by telecom sector demand for dollars, while stocks extended losses to a fifth day.

Mauritius' Chamber of Agriculture revised its 2011 sugar production forecast up by 5 percent to 410,000 tonnes on Tuesday, saying the sugar cane crop had proven more resilient to poor rainfall than expected.

Tanzania's year-on-year inflation rate rose for the twelfth straight month in October on the back of higher food and fuel prices, and is expected by some analysts to keep climbing in the coming months.

Wedbush Securities upgraded its rating on shares of Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: IDIX) to outperform from neutral. The brokerage also raised its fair value estimate to $11 from $6.

The Eurozone crisis in 2011 was first about Greece. Then, while Greece was still working to secure its new bailout package, Italy came into focus as its 10-year bond yields soared to 7.5 percent last week.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Netlist, ChinaCast Education, Siliconware Precision Industries, Apple, and Makita. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Activision Blizzard, Aixtron, Urban Outfitters, and Logitech International.

Venture capital investments in Canadian start-ups rose 51 percent in the third quarter as individual investors, pension administrators and government poured money into VC funds.

Canada released a new C$100 bill made of plastic on Monday, its first step in replacing an entire series of banknotes to thwart counterfeiters and persuade retailers it's safe to accept big bills.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Tuesday, extending a drop in global equities, as doubts about the ability of Europe to tackle its debt crisis sent Italy's bond yields back into a perceived danger zone.

Asian stock markets ended lower on Tuesday, as increased borrowing costs for Italy and Spain prompted fresh concerns that Europe could struggle to contain its debt crisis.

It is important, before opening new credit accounts, to be sure that the process will not adversely affect your credit ratings. The account, instead, must provide the ability to track credit patterns, including payment due dates, interest rates, fees and charges made. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to deciding which card is ideal for most, if not all concerns.

The top after market NYSE gainers on Monday were: Chimera Investment Corp, MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp, Beazer Homes USA, Assisted Living Concepts and Digital Realty Trust. The top after market NYSE Losers were: BPZ Resources, LDK Solar Co, InterOil Corp, Air Lease Corp and Penn Virginia Resource Partners.

The companies that are expected to see active trade on Tuesday are: Dell, Home Depot, Urban Outfitters, Wal-Mart Stores, Staples, TJX Companies, Jacobs Engineering Group, Autodesk and Agilent Technologies.

Crude oil prices declined to below $98 a barrel in Asian trade on Tuesday as renewed concerns over the euro zone debt crisis weighed on the markets sentiment.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Netlist, 21Vianet Group, Cytori Therapeutics, Swisher Hygiene, Acxiom, and Symantec. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Gulf Resources, Urban Outfitters, Zillow, Arris Group, and Take-Two Interactive Software.

Asian shares fell on Tuesday, as a rise in euro zone bond yields reflected lingering doubts about the ability of politicians in Italy and Greece to push through painful reforms to resolve their debt crises and win market confidence.

The reverberations of the Eurozone Crisis may hit the United States' shores, according to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The group pegged the chance of a 2012 recession at over 50 percent.

How the market works has changed from a few decades ago. In today’s hyper-financialized and interconnected world, investors cannot afford to solely focus on fundamentals.

Is now a good time to consider the shares of American International Group (AIG)? And what, if anything, does AIG's stock price say about the U.S. economy?

So now we know one reason why shares of IBM, the No. 2 computer services company rose nearly 13 percent over the past three months: Warren Buffett has been buying.

The world's leading economies are all heading for a period of slower growth, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Monday, highlighting signs of weakening economic activities across the board.

FBR Capital Markets said the broad changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) were outlined by U.S. President Barack Obama's administration on Oct. 24. However, the release of most of the technical details was delayed until Nov. 15.

Boeing (NYSE: BA) anticipates that the Middle Eastern airlines will need an estimated 2,520 airplanes worth $450 billion by 2030.

Industrial output in the Eurozone fell 2 percent in September, compared to the previous month, indicating that recovery in the sector has ended.

Oman Air, the Sultanate of Oman's flagship carrier, and Boeing (NYSE: BA) announced an order for six Boeing 787-8s at the Dubai Air Show.

Jefferies said meetings with the management of comScore Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) focused on the company's compelling growth opportunities, given a recently expanded product portfolio.