IBT Staff Reporter

Stock index futures rose on Tuesday a day after a week-long rally was halted as investors waited to see if the Federal Reserve's policy-setting panel offers aid to a sputtering U.S. economy.

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.2 percent, the Dow Jones futures down 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.1 percent at 0740 GMT.

Japan told its biggest weapons supplier, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to investigate a cyber attack on its computers on Tuesday, warning it may have breached contracts to supply billions of dollars of equipment by keeping quiet about the online assault.

Sanofi SA's chief executive has already put his company's patent expiration woes in the rear view mirror and believes that the French drugmaker and the pharmaceutical industry are undervalued.

The Carling Cup third round offers a special treat for the football connoisseur as Manchester United travel to Elland Road to face old-rivals Leeds United.

Bank of China, a big market-maker in China's onshore foreign exchange market, has stopped foreign exchange forwards and swaps trading with several European banks due to the unfolding debt crisis in Europe, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Just a few weeks before Apple is said to be releasing its most anticipated iPhone 5, which could halt Samsung’s aggravating success with the Galaxy Line, the South Korean firm is considering legal action to ban the sales of the upcoming iPhone.

Google Inc has enlisted Visa Inc in its effort to push mobile payments, striking an agreement to allow Visa account-holders to pay for store purchases with their smartphones.

Standard & Poor's cut Italy's credit rating on Tuesday in a surprise move that increased strains on the debt-stressed euro zone and raised pressure on policymakers to take more decisive action to resolve the crisis.

We present the chosen three best goals of the week here and readers can decide which one they think is the best.

While Microsoft aims to hit the tablet market with Windows 8, Apple seems reluctant to consider any competition— the company is unlikely to release the iPad 3 until 2012, reports a J.P. Morgan analyst.

Standard & Poor's cut its unsolicited ratings on Italy by one notch on Tuesday, a surprise move that sharply increases strains on the debt-stressed euro zone and piles pressure on policymakers to take more decisive action to resolve the crisis.

China must reduce barriers to foreign companies if it is to meet its own development goals, the U.S. ambassador said in Beijing on Tuesday in a speech that reflected foreign investors' growing frustration with the pace of economic reforms in the country.

Standard & Poor's cut its unsolicited ratings on Italy by one notch on Tuesday, a surprise move that sharply increases strains on the debt-stressed euro zone and piles pressure on policymakers to take more decisive action to resolve the crisis.

UBS AG Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel will seek a vote of confidence at a board meeting in Singapore for plans to slash the investment banking division that caused a $2.3 billion loss due to unauthorized trading, a Swiss newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Securities regulators have sent subpoenas to hedge funds and other trading firms as it probes possible insider trading before the U.S. government's long-term credit rating was cut last month, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Stocks and the euro fell on Tuesday after ratings agency S&P downgraded Italy and as Greece held talks with creditors to avoid running out of cash within weeks, amid worries that Europe's debt woes will trigger a full-blown banking crisis.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked companies like Dow Chemicals , Fortune Brands , Caterpillar and CIT Group to disclose the amount of cash they hold offshore, the Financial Times reported.

Bank of China, a big market-maker in China's onshore foreign exchange market, has stopped foreign exchange forwards and swaps trading with several European banks due to the unfolding debt crisis in Europe, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Scientists have found a way to prevent HIV from damaging the immune system and say their discovery may offer a new approach to developing a vaccine against AIDS.

Samsung Electronics Co is considering legal action to ban sales of Apple's new iPhone, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, in what could be its strongest step to defend against claims by the U.S. firm that the South Korean firm had copied its product designs.

The new BCCI president N. Srinivasan on Monday ruled out any formal inquiry into the team's abysmal performance on their tour of England.

The proposed food security bill will likely cost an annual 1 trillion rupees ($20.7 billion), the Financial Express quoted the food minister as saying, as the government looks to scale up production and storage of subsidised grain to feed more of the country's poor.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is considering filing a case or multiple cases against Reliance Industries over its operations of its gas block in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin, the Mint reported on Tuesday.

Standard and Poor's cut its unsolicited ratings on Italy by one notch, warning of a deteriorating growth outlook and damaging political uncertainty, in a move that took markets by surprise and added to pressure on the debt-stressed euro zone.

About 48,500 General Motors Co workers at U.S. factories will begin considering the details of a proposed four-year contract on Tuesday that represents the first labor deal for the automaker since its 2009 bailout by the Obama administration.

Asian stocks and the euro fell on Tuesday after ratings agency S&P downgraded Italy and as Greece held talks with creditors to avoid running out of cash within weeks, amid worries that Europe's debt woes will pitch the global financial system into a full-blown banking crisis.

Goodrich Corp shares surged 16 percent on Monday as diversified U.S. manufacturer United Technologies Corp negotiated terms for a potential purchase of the aircraft components maker.

The Swiss parliament piled pressure on the nation's biggest banks on Monday in the wake of UBS AG's $2.3 billion loss from rogue trading, as a center-left party pushed for a ban on risky investment banking and a plan to raise capital requirements passed the lower house.