IBT Staff Reporter

Top U.S. refiner Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said Tuesday a naphtha hydrotreater remained shut at its 87,400 barrel-per-day Ardmore, Oklahoma refinery after a Saturday night fire in the unit.

Three major hospital associations have offered to contribute about $155 billion over 10 years to help pay for a U.S. healthcare overhaul, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing industry sources.

Japan's wind power industry installed 183 megawatts (MW) of capacity in the year ended in March, 2009, down 1.3 percent from a year earlier, a government linked research unit said in a report on Tuesday.

The following are key excerpts from the speech by U.S. President Barack Obama to graduating students of the New Economic School in Moscow on Tuesday. The text was provided by the White House.

Unseasonable weather and consumers without the stimulus boost they received last year were expected to have dampened U.S. retail sales in June, analysts said.

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin praised the hospitality and openness of U.S. former President George W. Bush in a telegramme sent hours before meeting his successor Barack Obama.

The SeaGen tidal energy system has become the first marine energy project to qualify for Britain's support for renewable energy, its developer UK Marine Current Turbines Ltd (MCT) said on Tuesday.

Porsche may own a lot of options over Volkswagen shares. But the German sports car maker is increasingly bereft of alternatives when it comes to financing its own stretched balance sheet.

A U.S. drone fired a missile into a Pakistani Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border on Tuesday, killing at least 14 militants, intelligence officials and residents said.

Xstrata could wait for shareholder pressure to build on rival Anglo American before considering a premium bid for the group, while Anglo, enjoying share outperformance, is in no hurry to break the impasse.

The regulator of the U.S. futures markets is considering tough new rules to clamp down on speculative trading in energy and other commodities and will hold public hearings in the next few weeks to seek comment.

General Motors is on track to launch a plug-in sport-utility vehicle in 2011 despite scrapping its Saturn brand as part of a sweeping reorganization in bankruptcy, according to the automaker's product chief.

Iranian opposition leaders urged the authorities to release people arrested following a disputed presidential election last month, and criticized the security state imposed in Iran, a website said on Tuesday.

China National Petroleum Corp., the country's largest oil company, could pay up to $14.5 billion for 75 percent of Spanish oil major Repsol's Argentine unit YPF, sources said on Tuesday.

Han Chinese armed with iron bars and machetes spilled down side streets and into the stairwell of an apartment building on Tuesday, looking for Muslim Uighur targets two days after bloody ethnic clashes killed 156 and wounded more than 1,000.

Earnings Week: Large Caps, Mid Caps ; Consumer Credit; Clean Energy testimony

The Energy Information Administration releases its monthly energy prices forecast. Officials from U.S. agencies testify before Senate on clean energy. The New Energy Symposium kicks off in New York City through July 8-9.

President Barack Obama called on Tuesday for Russia to forge a true partnership with the United States, promoting democracy and the rule of law but avoiding direct criticism of the Kremlin.

Earnings for Large Cap Firms this week, Earnings for Mid-Cap, Small-Cap firms today, June retail sales out July 9, Del Monte Foods Analyst and Investor Day

The Obama administration on Tuesday ordered tougher steps to curb salmonella and E.coli contamination in U.S. food processing plants and created a new deputy food commissioner post to coordinate safety in the wake of a salmonella outbreak.

Yahoo to launch new search note feature on Tuesday that lets Yahoo searchers take and save notes as they visit various websites.

A Seattle clinic for people fed up with insurance, started by doctors fed up with insurance, has gotten $4 million in private venture capital money to expand, it announced on Monday.

EU finance ministers meet European Union finance ministers will meet today as they attend the Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Brussels. The Swedish's presidency program will be presented by the country's finance minister; Anders Borg. The agenda will also include preparations for this autumn's G20 summit, and issues related to the global economic crisis.

To fairly divide the climate change fight between rich and poor, a new study suggests basing targets for emission cuts on the number of wealthy people, who are also the biggest greenhouse gas emitters, in a country.

Oil rose toward $65 a barrel on Tuesday after a four-day losing streak and as U.S. crude oil inventories were expected to fall for the fifth week in a row.

U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat open on Tuesday as investors turned cautious ahead of corporate earnings results, and talk for the need of a second fiscal stimulus package underscored worries about the U.S. economic recovery.

Want a job in marketing? Sell yourself in a 160 character text message and cut the waffle.

Tens of thousands of Michael Jackson fans will crowd into downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday for a star-packed memorial to the King of Pop whose sudden death nearly two weeks ago shocked the world.

Futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Tuesday as the price of oil broke a four-session losing streak, which could lift energy shares, but investors remained cautious ahead of the start of earnings season.