IBT Staff Reporter

Germany pressed the three bidders for General Motors unit Opel to improve their offers for the carmaker on Tuesday, saying they needed to assume greater risks and make credible commitments to preserve jobs and sites.

Prices of U.S. single-family homes fell 18.7 percent in March from a year earlier, while prices in the first quarter dropped at a record pace, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released on Tuesday.

If there is one industry suited to embrace the online revolution, it’s real estate. After all, the Internet is all about bringing together people and information, making it easier for the right people to find the right information. Substitute the word “houses” for “information”, and you have real estate.

World stocks fell on Tuesday with Asian shares leading the way as tension about North Korean nuclear tests added to questions over the global economic outlook.

Stock index futures pointed to a flat to lower open on Tuesday after a long weekend as tensions surrounding North Korea unsettled investors and hopes for a quick economic recovery in the near-term ebbed.

Obama to nominate Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court

Prices of U.S. single-family homes in March fell 18.7 percent from a year earlier, while prices in the first quarter dropped at a record pace, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released on Tuesday.

United Auto Workers' officials will gather on Tuesday to hear how many more U.S. factory jobs GM will cut as the embattled automaker enters what could be its last week outside bankruptcy.

Top executives from utilities, electric car, solar and wind power companies demanded on Tuesday that governments turn away from fossil fuels when they sign a new climate pact, expected in December.

Germany denied it was considering a possible breakup of carmaker Opel ahead of a crucial final round of meetings on Tuesday between the government and top executives from Italian suitor Fiat .

Oil fell below $61 a barrel on Tuesday but climbed from session lows after Saudi Arabia said oil demand was picking up.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday after a long weekend as tensions surrounding North Korea unsettled investors and hopes for a quick economic recovery in the near-term ebbed.

General Electric Co's growth will be harder to come by in coming years given the prospect the global economy may grow at a slower pace once it emerges from recession, the company's chief executive said.

Microsoft is aiming to fire up competition in the search engine market after revamping its search engine and renaming it Bing, the software company is now planning an extravagant ad campaign in a bid to woo the public from its competition, Google.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower start on Tuesday as Wall Street reopens following a long weekend, with investors rattled by mounting tensions surrounding North Korea.

(Corrects direction in Treasuries price and yield moves in paragraph 6)

Nokia said it opened its online software and content store, Ovi Store, globally to some 50 million phone users on Tuesday.

World stocks fell on Tuesday with Asian shares leading the way as tension about North Korean nuclear tests added to questions over the global economic outlook.

Oil fell below $60 a barrel on Tuesday, pressured partly by a firmer U.S. dollar and expectations an OPEC meeting later this week would keep the producer group's output unchanged.

Hewlett-Packard Co, the world's largest PC maker, is recalling 15,000 laptop batteries distributed in China because of a danger they could overheat, China said on Tuesday on its quality inspections web site.

Nokia officially entered the mobile applications market on Tuesday after opening its online software and content store, Ovi Store.

Privately-owned airline Virgin Atlantic said yearly profits nearly doubled, but warned the weak economic environment would make it almost impossible for airlines to make a profit in the current year.

Oil fell below $60 a barrel on Tuesday, pressured partly by a firmer U.S. dollar and expectations an OPEC meeting later this week would keep the producer group's output unchanged.

Privately-owned airline Virgin Atlantic said profits nearly doubled during the year to end February, despite the high fuel prices and economic slowdown that has devastated the industry.

Asian shares fell on Tuesday as a report of fresh missile tests by North Korea added to market tensions at a time when investors are questioning if they are too optimistic about the global economic outlook.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower start on Tuesday as Wall Street reopens following a long weekend, with investors rattled by mounting tensions surrounding North Korea.

Asian shares edged lower on Tuesday with stocks in Seoul down 1.2 percent after North Korea threatened to launch more missiles and while investor doubts about the world economy kept riskier assets such as the euro under pressure.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's U.S. estate administrators will ask a federal judge on Tuesday to approve a framework for coordinating bankruptcy proceedings for the bank's subsidiaries worldwide, putting them at odds with its administrators in the UK, the Wall Street Journal said.

Wall Street may feel more pressure next week unless a raft of economic data, including consumer confidence, home sales and GDP, restores the optimism that had driven a two-month rally before fading in the past few days.