ECONOMY & MARKETS

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, who is considered by some to be the world’s richest person, said he will invest $8.3-billion in nineteen countries, primarily in Latin America.

Job growth still slow despite upward earnings, GDP growth

BP, despite its announcement to pay a dividend once again, has seen its shares drop in early morning trading.

Whatever your finance advisor, economics professor, banker or coin dealer might tell you, no single asset class - bought today - can promise to hold or grow its value, year after year, until precisely the day when you need to sell it and spend.

The Gold Price ticked higher for Dollar investors Tuesday morning in London, but slipped against other currencies as world stock markets rose and government bonds edged back.

RBC Capital Markets downgraded rating of ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) to "sector perform" with above average risk qualifier from "outperform" and lowered its price target to $15.25 from $16.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Silicon Motion Technology, Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Baidu, American Superconductor, ARM Holdings, Corinthian Colleges, and Biogen Idec. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Orexigen Therapeutics, China MediaExpress Holdings, VIVUS, DepoMed, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.

Worldwide semiconductor sales rose sharply last year, boosted by a strong demand for mobile gadgets such as smartphones and tablet computers.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Tuesday are: Lexmark International, Archer Daniels Midland, Novellus Systems, Advanced Micro Devices, Monster Worldwide, Eastman Chemical, BP and Ventas.

The BSE Sensex fell 1.7 percent on Tuesday to its lowest close since August, extending January's worst monthly slide in more than two years, as inflation worries and hardening interest rates continued to spook investors.

The number of empty houses in the U.S. is close to 20 million, Census shows

Manufacturing activity grew in January at its fastest pace since records began in 1992, and factory costs also surged, in a further sign that price pressures are building in the economy, a survey showed.

The companies which are expected to see active trade on Tuesday are: BP, Pfizer, C.H. Robinson, Emerson, United Parcel, McGraw Hill Companies, Lexmark International and Cummins.

The number of unemployed people in Germany fell in January 2011, reaching the lowest levels since November 1992.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Silicon Motion Technology, ICU Medical, Baidu, Hutchinson Technology, and Array BioPharma. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Crescent Financial, Dataram, Extreme Networks, Parexel International, and Rudolph Technologies.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Monday are: Longtop Financial Technologies, Manitowoc Co, Camelot Information, Concord Medical Services and Aercap Holdings. The top after-market NYSE losers on Monday are: Exterran Holdings, Hovnanian Enterprises, Fifth Street Finance, Seaspan and Nabors Industries.

China's manufacturing activity contracted to a five-month low in January, indicating that the Chinese government measures to control prices caused a decline in manufacturing.

British chip designer ARM Holdings posted a higher quarterly and full-year profit, helped by the growth in licensing and royalty revenue and it expects dollar revenue for 2011 to be at least in line with market expectations.

A survey by London-based Brand Finance Plc of banks, based on the notional amount that a company would have to pay for the brand, has ranked the Bank of America as the most valuable banking brand with an estimated price of $30.6 billion.

Exxon, IBM, Alcoa lead strong day for U.S. stocks

U.S> stocks, led by AMD and Exxon Mobil, are up slightly today

Tanzania's economy grew 6.2 percent in the third quarter of 2010 from 5.7 percent in the same period a year ago due to an improvement in construction, transport and communication sectors, data showed on Monday.

U.S. stocks rose on Monday on strong earnings and merger activity, overshadowing concerns about the possible spread of unrest in Egypt which had caused a sharp selloff in world stocks on Friday.

The most famous Egyptian in the world, actor Omar Sharif, well known for starring in film classics such as Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Ariabia, told a French radio station this morning that Mubarak should go.

U.S. consumer spending rose more than expected in December to post the sixth straight month of gains as households drew down on their savings to fund purchases, government data showed on Monday.

Prime office rents in key Chinese and Brazilian cities will continue their economic growth-fuelled rise in 2011, a survey said, prompting global property investors to chase deals in those emerging markets.

Dow Jones Index was up 21.99 points, or 0.19 percent, to 11,845.69 and the S&P 500 index rose 4.54 points, or 0.36 percent, to trade at 1,280.88. Meanwhile, Nasdaq gained 0.39 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,687.28.

Shares of Massey Energy Co. (NYSE: MEE) are rallying this morning after it was announced over the weekend that Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:ANR) agreed to buy the metallurgical coal producer in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $8.5 billion.

Protests in Egypt sparked a sell-off in Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) shares as investors feared disruption in operations, said an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.