IBT Staff Reporter

General Motors Corp stock plunged more than 22 percent to a 76-year low on Tuesday, a day after GM's top executives dumped their shares as the automaker heads toward a bankruptcy or a restructuring that would all but wipe out existing shareholders.

Several large U.S. banks undertook big capital-raising efforts on Tuesday, hoping to satisfy regulators who want to see bigger cushions against a deep recession, or proof they have enough of a buffer already.

Alpha Natural Resources on Tuesday said it has acquired Foundation Coal Holding for $2.0 billion, after gaining higher first quarter profit, making the company to be the third largest coal producer in America.

General Electric Co plans to invest $100 million in a factory to build high-tech batteries for heavy equipment, which it believes could be a $1 billion business over the next decade.

Improved credit markets have brought stabilization to the economy but it is still not clear when growth will resume, General Electric Co Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said on Tuesday.

Nokia, the world's biggest cell phone maker, said on Tuesday it would halt investment in its first major Internet service push, a media sharing site, as part of a revamp of its services strategy.

U.S. stocks extended losses on Tuesday as financial shares slid sharply for a second straight day and investors worried that there are too few catalysts on the horizon to sustain the recent rally.

General Electric announced Tuesday it will open a new factory to manufacture high tech batteries in upstate New York, creating 350 new jobs.

When even Moody's chimes in and notes that the Fed's Adverse Case assumptions are in line with their Base Case assumptions,

Higher unemployment, slow global growth and persistent government intervention in financial markets and companies will become the new normal for world economies, the chief executive of top bond fund Pimco said on Tuesday.

Stocks fell on Tuesday as investors worried there were too few catalysts to sustain the recent rally near term, sending financial and technology shares lower.

GMAC has issues with some details in a possible agreement to provide financing to Chrysler dealers and customers, attorneys for Chrysler and Chrysler Financial said on Tuesday, and the objections have delayed a hearing on whether GMAC can provide the financing.

Corrects number of months in headline, first and third graph to eight, from seven

The U.S. trade gap widened in March for the first time in eight months as exports fell 2.4 percent and imports dropped for the eighth consecutive month, a U.S. government report showed on Tuesday.

The National Association of realtors said on Tuesday that home prices dropped in 134 out of 152 metro areas on a year-over-year basis during the first quarter of this year.

U.S. Bancorp , the eighth-largest U.S. bank, said it sold $3.5 billion of stock and bonds as it tries to raise sufficient funds to repay a taxpayer bailout.

The U.S. trade gap widened in March for the first time in seven months as exports fell 2.4 percent and imports dropped for the eighth consecutive month, a U.S. government report showed on Tuesday.

U.S. Bancorp , the eighth-largest U.S. bank, said it sold $3.5 billion of stock and bonds as it tries to raise sufficient funds to repay a taxpayer bailout.

Stocks fell on Tuesday as financial and technology shares weakened after a recent strong run-up, while energy shares cushioned the blue-chip Dow industrials from the worst of the losses.

A streak of shrinking U.S. trade deficits for eight straight months ended in March, with a government report showing on Tuesday that exports fell faster than imports as foreign companies purchased less capital goods.

Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of both Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) and Renault SA (RENA.PA), said he would not resign as the Japanese carmaker's chief before it was once again comfortably making profits.

The Obama administration's fiscal stimulus plan will meet previous estimates to save 3.5 million U.S. jobs by the end of 2010, but the unemployment rate at that time may be higher due to further deterioration in the economy, a senior administration official said on Monday.

Thousands of residents fled bomb-blasted north Mogadishu on Tuesday where the worst fighting in months between Islamist militants and the government has killed at least 113 civilians, according to a rights group.

Accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk arrived from the United States Tuesday to face charges he helped kill 29,000 Jews in 1943, and what is likely to be Germany's last major Nazi trial.

The U.S. trade gap widened less than expected in March as exports fell 2.4 percent and imports dropped for the eighth consecutive month, a U.S. government report showed on Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal off-leads and Bloomberg reports that Ford Motor Co. (F), the most robust of the Big Three, plans to issue 300 million shares of common stock in a public offering that will further distance itself from its crosstown rivals and will take advantage of an 11-week stock rally.

Mourners crowded ruins in southwest China on Tuesday to mark one year since an earthquake shattered the region, while President Hu Jintao called reconstruction efforts a testament to national strength.

Mexico could lose up to $4 billion in tourism income after foreign visitors canceled trips to popular beach resorts and colonial towns due to the flu scare, Tourism Minister Rodolfo Elizondo said on Monday.

China's voracious appetite for commodities lifted imports of copper and iron ore to new highs in April, despite a global economic slowdown, while the world'sdemand for China's exports remained weak.