IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday after strong quarterly results from bellwethers Caterpillar Inc and Apple Inc pointed to a solid earnings season.

European shares were lower at midday on Tuesday, with banks the major losers after Qatar cut its stake in British bank Barclays (BARC.L).

A sale of Barclays shares by the Qatari Investment Authority (QIA) dented banking stocks, pulling Britain's FTSE 100 index slightly lower by midday on Tuesday, but the move lifted Sainsbury shares by reviving bid talk.

* U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, after strong quarterly results from bellwethers Apple (AAPL.O) and Texas Instruments (TXN.N) pleased investors.

Qatar is selling 379.2 million shares in British bank Barclays , worth over 1.3 billion pounds ($2.1 billion), the second major Middle East investor set to make a big profit by selling down its stake this year.

Oil edged lower on Tuesday, ebbing from an over $80 a barrel a peak hit earlier on a weaker dollar, as a cautious reassessment of supply and demand tempered the rally.

Qatar is selling a 1.3 billion pound ($2.1 billion) stake in British bank Barclays , stoking talk it will use a big profit to make a move on UK food retailer J. Sainsbury .

Apple Inc's profits and sales streaked past Wall Street forecasts as iPhone and Mac sales hit quarterly records, sending its shares rocketing to all-time highs on Monday.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, after strong quarterly results from bellwethers Apple and Texas Instruments pleased investors.

World stocks hit a new 12-month high on Tuesday, powered by strong results from Apple Inc and Texas Instruments and helping to push the dollar to a new 14-month low against a basket of currencies.

Hu shuli, the chief editor of Caijing, Chinese most influential magazine, may resign to launch a new venture after journal's Daphne Wu Chuanhui and nearly 70 employees, or more than two-thirds of the business department, had resigned.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth should exceed 7 percent, a Chinese official said on Monday, ahead this week's official announcement.

Switzerland's Adecco , the world's largest staffing company, said on Tuesday it would acquire U.S. rival MPS Group Inc for $1.3 billion in a cash transaction.

Global stocks extended gains to a one-year high on Tuesday, up 75 percent from a crisis low after strong sales numbers from Apple Inc suggested U.S. consumption is returning.

U.S. crude futures rallied to a one-year high above $80 a barrel on Tuesday, lifted by a slump in the dollar to a 14-month low and a rally in U.S. stock markets to their highest in 12 months.

U.S. crude futures rose more than half a percent on Tuesday to a one-year high of $80.05 a barrel on a weak dollar and firm U.S. stock markets.

U.S. crude futures rose more than half a percent on Tuesday to a one-year high of $80.05 a barrel on a weak dollar and firm U.S. stock markets.

Boston Scientific Corp on Monday reported a quarterly net profit, compared with a year-ago loss, but cut its full-year earnings outlook, citing weakness in the market for implantable heart defibrillators.

Verizon, No. 2 wireless carrier in the U.S., made its boldest attack on Apple's iPhone with a TV commercial that boasted Droid, a new smartphone from Motorola, does everything the iPhone doesn't.

U.S. crude futures edged up on Tuesday to a one-year high near $80 a barrel on a weak dollar and firm U.S. stock market.

The new electronic reader from Barnes & Noble Inc, expected to launch on Tuesday, features color, a touchscreen display and the same price tag as Amazon.com Inc's Kindle, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

IBM placed senior executive Robert Moffat on leave of absence after he was arrested in the largest ever hedge fund insider-trading scheme.

Texas Instruments Inc posted better-than-expected third-quarter results on Monday, citing strong demand from every industry that uses its chips, from cars to computers and phones.

Sales of video game equipment and software in the United States rose a modest 1 percent in September to 1.28 billion, research group NPD said on Monday, as the industry posted the first month of growth in half a year following price cuts from all the home console makers.

DENVER - U2 and YouTube have teamed up to broadcast a live stream of the band's Los Angeles-area concert this weekend via its YouTube channel.

Volkswagen AG set out plans to raise as much as 10 billion euros ($14.9 billion) from shareholders, which analysts said would be enough to make fresh acquisitions as well as merge with Porsche.

French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) expects output at its Slovak assembly plant to be slightly above 200,000 units this year, with similar volume in 2010, the outgoing chief executive of PSA's Slovak operations, Jean Mouro, said on Monday.

Boston Scientific Corp on Monday reported a quarterly net profit, compared with a year-ago loss, but cut its full-year earnings outlook, citing weakness in the market for implantable heart defibrillators.

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Friday it plans to resume a second shift at its San Antonio, Texas plant in February for the first time since August 2008, adding production of Tundra full-size pickup trucks.