MARKETS / FINANCE

U.S. consumer confidence rose in August, mirroring gains in the stock market, a survey released on Tuesday said.

Macy's Inc posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as it cut costs in the recession, but the department store operator's shares fell 2.2 percent in premarket trading as it offered a full-year earnings outlook that could miss Wall Street estimates.

Stock index futures edged up on Wednesday as investors shied away from big bets ahead of Federal Reserve statements on the state of the economy.

Oil reversed early losses on Wednesday to edge back toward $70 a barrel, after initially falling to the lowest price in August so far on concerns about the strength of demand ahead of weekly U.S. inventory data.

Stock index futures edged up on Wednesday after a selloff in the previous session but investors shied away from big bets ahead of Federal Reserve statements on the state of the economy.

Switzerland is striving to settle a long-running tax evasion dispute between UBS and the U.S. government that challenges Swiss banking secrecy, before a key pre-trial conference on Wednesday.

ING Groep turned a small profit after three quarters of heavy losses, but the profit was well below expectations as real estate writedowns drove the banking business to a surprise loss.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday as investors awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting.

JPMorgan Chase & Co is looking to sell 23 office properties in what may be the country's largest office real estate sale this year, the Wall Street Journal said in a report on its Website on Tuesday.

Dutch bancassurer ING Groep NV returned to profitability after nearly 5 billion euros ($7.1 billion) of losses in the previous three quarters, but the profit was well below expectations as real estate writedowns drove the banking business to a surprise loss.

Britain's Lloyds said on Wednesday it would sell the bulk of its Insight Investment unit to Bank of New York Mellon for 235 million pounds ($386 million) as part of a shake-up of its asset management units.

Uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's view on the U.S. economy and another sharp fall in Chinese stocks pushed equities lower across the world on Wednesday and drove lower-yielding currencies higher.

The Federal Reserve is expected to give a nod to signs the U.S. recession is waning but will likely warn that the recovery will be slow and dampen any expectations it will soon start to raise interest rates.

Lloyds Banking Group said it will sell its Insight Investment unit to Bank of New York Mellon for 235 million pounds ($386.2 million), following the completion of a strategic review of its asset management business.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday after a prominent banking analyst warned the sector's fundamentals have yet to improve, and an unexpectedly large drop in wholesale inventories raised worries about an economic recovery.

Despite a relatively upbeat NAB survey on business conditions the Aussie dollar retreated from its intraday highs at 0.8380 in Asia yesterday dropping to a low of 0.8320 with the market questioning the sustainability of the recent rally in equities.

Bernard Madoff's long-time deputy, Frank DiPascali, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to financial crimes including helping others carry out Wall Street's biggest investment fraud, but shed little more light in court on the decades-long swindle.

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The Japanese yen rose broadly on Tuesday as investors bought the low-yielding currency as U.S. stocks declined and on rising risk aversion after disappointing economic data from China.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc can pursue claims on assets in a bankruptcy case expected to set a precedent for treatment of derivatives in complex investment products, a New York court said on Tuesday.

Frank DiPascali, 52, a long time employee and finance chief at Bernard Madoff's investment firm pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud in helping his former boss carry out a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Bernard Madoff's long-time deputy, Frank DiPascali, Tuesday pleaded guilty to crimes including helping others carry out Wall Street's biggest investment fraud.

The U.S. Treasury Department should consider expanding programs to cleanse troubled assets from bank balance sheets if current efforts fail to restart markets or if economic conditions worsen, a U.S. bailout watchdog panel said on Tuesday.

U.S. output per worker rose at its fastest pace in six years during the second quarter as businesses wrung more productivity from fewer staff in a sign that a recovery from recession will be slow and unlikely to create a surge in hiring.

Google secret project search engine infrastructure dubbed as Caffeine has revealed and is now open to the public for testing and real-time experience letting users to send feedback between the difference of Caffeine search engine and the ongoing live search engine of Google.

China notebook of light weight and mobility took a major attraction in the market due to demand in low pricing pressure, according to market research firm DRAMeXchange on Tuesday.

White House economic adviser Larry Summers said on Tuesday the foundations for a return to growth had been laid and there were many signs economic life was getting back to normal.