MARKETS / FINANCE

Consumer confidence rebounded in March, while home prices rose in January for the eighth straight month according to a closely watched housing index, bolstering hopes for a sustainable economic recovery.

The Supreme Court handed a victory to the $11 trillion mutual fund industry by endorsing a 1982 legal standard to decide the fairness of fund fees, a ruling that gives companies considerable freedom to set investment adviser charges.

Toyota Motor Corp's U.S. sales rose about 35 percent in March from a year earlier after the automaker offered steep discounts to win back consumers after massive recalls, a U.S. executive said on Tuesday.

America's big banks must be broken up and their risk-taking curtailed or the world's richest economy will face another massive financial crisis, former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson says in a new book.

Google Inc said many users in China were blocked from using its search service on Tuesday by a technical glitch that made their search queries appear to be associated with Radio Free Asia, which is blocked by Chinese authorities.

Chrysler Group LLC is on track to break even on an operating basis in 2010 and is ahead of its turnaround targets, Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said on Tuesday.

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer has sent a letter to six big banks that underwrite the state's municipal bond sales, asking what the banks' role may be in also selling credit default swaps on Californian debt.

Bailed-out lender Royal Bank of Scotland has been fined 28.6 million pounds ($43 million) for illegally sharing loan pricing details with rival Barclays , Britain's Office of Fair Trading said on Tuesday.

Lenders to the bankrupt Philadelphia Newspapers LLC have appealed a court decision preventing them from bidding what they are owed in an auction of the publisher's business.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a lower-court ruling that made it harder for individual shareholders to sue a mutual fund investment adviser for excessive fees.

U.S. consumer confidence rebounded in March, helped by a slight increase in optimism about the labor market, according to a private report released

U.S. consumer confidence rebounded in March, while home prices rose in January for the eighth straight month according to a closely watched housing index, bolstering hopes for a sustainable economic recovery.

Does what you wear to an interview really make a difference in the hiring process?

U.S. manufacturing executives have a brighter outlook on the economic recovery than do their colleagues in the European Union or the service sector, according to a study released on Tuesday.

Google Inc said its mobile services have been partially blocked in China for two days, while searches on its Chinese-language site became erratic, about a week after the company shut its mainland Chinese portal and rerouted Web searches to a Hong Kong site.

An international drive to impose new regulations in the wake of the financial crisis is fading and global cooperation is diminishing, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

Swiss bank UBS expects first-quarter revenue in its rebuilt fixed income business to be slightly below $2.3 billion, it said on Tuesday.

Monetary policy is not an effective tool for pricking asset bubbles, but central banks without authority to supervise banks may have no alternative, Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said Tuesday.

The Federal Reserve's monetary policy is still appropriate because of high unemployment and minimal inflationary pressures in the United States, a Fed policymaker said on Tuesday.

China displayed new divisions on Tuesday over how to respond to mounting U.S. pressure to let its exchange rate rise.

China displayed new divisions on Tuesday over how to respond to mounting U.S. pressure to let its exchange rate rise.

Airlines are climbing out of recession with further strong increases for passenger travel and freight in February, industry association IATA said on Tuesday.

The Japanese government will set incremental goals to reduce its heavy reliance on debt in its upcoming fiscal strategy, the Nikkei business daily said, but analysts doubted it would be enough to allay concerns about its massive borrowing.

German carmaker Daimler AG dismissed market talk on Tuesday it could divest its Maybach super luxury brand, after Chinese media reported that a Chinese firm was considering buying the brand.

China displayed new divisions on Tuesday over how to respond to mounting U.S. pressure to let its exchange rate rise.

U.S. unemployment remains a cause for concern, a top U.S. Federal Reserve official said, adding that inflationary concerns are minimal.

China should allow the yuan to resume its gradual appreciation, two new advisers to the central bank said on Tuesday, as Beijing faces intense U.S. pressure to let its currency rise.

U.S. auto safety regulators are turning to NASA scientists for help in analyzing Toyota Motor Corp electronic throttles to see if they are behind unintended acceleration, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Tuesday.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc said on Monday it believes claims from creditors against its bankruptcy estate should be cut to $605 billion, according to a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.