IBT Staff Reporter

Kraft Foods raised its 2009 profit forecast on Tuesday and said it was well-positioned to deliver sustainable top-tier performance, with or without Cadbury.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will have to raise interest rates as the economy improves or risk losing the public's confidence in its commitment to keeping inflation low and stable, a top Federal Reserve policy maker said on Tuesday.

The Canadian dollar fell against the U.S. currency on Tuesday after data showed the country's trade balance unexpectedly slipped into deficit in November, raising worries about the health of the recovery.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will have to raise interest rates as the economy improves or risk losing the public's confidence in its commitment to keeping inflation low and stable, a top Federal Reserve policy maker said on Tuesday.

The United States and Google Inc separately said they would move against Chinese Internet censorship, possibly signaling the start of a harder line toward China by U.S. President Barack Obama and the end of Google's business in the country.

Google Inc is considering shutting down its China operations and website after hackers in China coordinated a highly sophisticated cyber-attack on the Internet search giant in December and targeted at least a score of other major corporations, it said on Tuesday.

Consumers will soon have more protection from various unfair practices from credit card issuers, as the Federal Reserve today approved several mandates to further regulate the credit card industry.

Bank of America Corp said on Tuesday it would shift its chief financial officer to a job running its retail operations and seek a replacement CFO, one of several moves by new Chief Executive Brian Moynihan to put his imprint on the bank.

Google, Inc executives in the U.S. have ordered a review of the search giant's operations in China and are considering shutting its local site and offices there if talks with the Chinese government about having an unfiltered search engine within the law fall through.

A major earthquake hit the impoverished country of Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince and burying residents under rubble, a Reuters reporter in the city said.

The Vatican's semi-official newspaper has called blockbuster film Avatar a sappy movie while criticizing its approach to the theme of man versus nature.

Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam will plead not guilty to any new government charges of insider trading, his lawyer told a judge on Tuesday, as prosecutors raised the amount of his alleged illegal profits to $41 million.

Bank of America Corp on Tuesday announced a reshuffled executive management team under new Chief Executive Brian Moynihan.

Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, accused of fraud and conspiracy in a complex insider trading case, attacked the U.S. government's wiretap evidence on Tuesday, as he won approval to stay free on bail.

The full track listing of Almost Alice, the soundtrack of Tim Burton's upcoming film Alice in Wonderland, was unveiled on Tuesday on MySpace Music.

DoubleLine Capital LP, the money management firm started last month by star bond fund manager Jeffrey Gundlach, plans to open three new mutual funds for the general public, according to a registration statement filed on Tuesday.

Stock markets declined for the first time in 2010 after the People's Bank of China's unexpected announcement to raise the reserve requirements for commercial banks.

U.S. stocks slid in a broad selloff on Tuesday as investors pummeled financials on concerns about a potential government levy on banks, while Alcoa Inc's disappointing results tempered optimism about the economic recovery.

U.S. bank stocks fell on Tuesday after reports that the Obama administration might charge banks more than $100 billion made investors worry about the sector's profits.

The Australian Dollar opens lower today at 0.9210 after failing to hang onto its recent gains above US93 cents.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who failed to attract much bipartisan support in his first year in office, has agreed to meet with U.S. Republican lawmakers as he starts his second year, a party leader said on Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada failed to reach a deal on Tuesday on a dispute over a U.S. military base, but pledged not to let it derail the broader relationship.

U.S. stocks slid in a broad selloff on Tuesday as investors pummeled financials on concerns about a potential government levy on banks, while Alcoa Inc's disappointing results tempered optimism about the economic recovery.

Corrects to this week from next week in first paragraph

Intel Corp is again expected to surpass Wall Street forecasts when it kicks off tech sector earnings next week, but analysts worry about a stock sell-off if its 2010 outlook isn't rosy enough.

Asian markets finished the day mixed on Tuesday as Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index took a dive in the last hour of trading after other markets closed.

A fee being considered for banks could raise more than $100 billion if the Obama administration seeks to recoup the current estimate of financial bailout costs, but exact figures are preliminary.

Genzyme Corp said on Tuesday its preliminary fourth-quarter revenue fell as a manufacturing crisis led to a shortage of two key drugs.

France wants to start a digital book exchange with Internet giant Google to solve a spat over online publication of the world's literary heritage, according to a government report published on Tuesday.