IBT Staff Reporter

UnitedHealth Group Inc posted slightly lower first-quarter profit on Tuesday as membership in commercial plans for employers fell, but the results topped analysts' expectations, and the insurer backed its 2009 profit forecast.

Honda Motor Co. President Takeo Fukui said on Tuesday the U.S. market has shown signs of having bottomed out since the start of April.

Cisco Systems Inc on Tuesday introduced new network security products to help protect companies' Web-based software and services from attacks on their networks.

The Obama administration will make about $500 million available to Chrysler LLC through the end of this month as it seeks to reach an alliance with Fiat, and up to $5 billion through May to help General Motors Corp restructure outside of bankruptcy, an independent oversight report on the Treasury Department's corporate rescue fund said on Tuesday.

Chemical maker DuPont reported a 59 percent fall in quarterly profit, trimmed its full-year outlook and said it would cut more jobs as weak economic conditions continued to constrict demand.

Caterpillar Inc , the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment, reported its first quarterly loss in 17 years on Tuesday, pulled into the red by more than half a billion dollars in charges from its wave of recession-triggered layoffs.

Shares of Caterpillar Inc fell 3.2 percent to $29.51 in premarket trade on Tuesday after the heavy equipment maker posted its quarterly results.

LG Electronics Inc posted a smaller-than-expected 25 percent fall in first-quarter operating profit on Tuesday and said it expected improving sales of mobile phones and air conditioners to drive a recovery in the quarters ahead.

Chemical maker DuPont reported a 59 percent fall in quarterly earnings, cut its full year 2009 earnings forecast due to weak demand, and said it will undertake additional cost cutting measures.

Merck & Co , which plans to buy rival drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp later this year, reported lower-than-expected sales and earnings that it attributed to the global economic slowdown.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday on concerns about the state of corporate profits after Bank of New York Mellon cut its quarterly dividend and DuPont warned of weak demand ahead.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, Nasdaq and S&P 500 share indexes are up between 0.3 and 0.5 percent, pointing to a higher start on Wall Street.

Tesco , the world's No.3 retailer, showed its resilience to the economic downturn, posting a 10 percent rise in underlying annual profit to 3.13 billion pounds ($4.6 billion), a record for a British retailer.

Tesco , the world's No.3 retailer, showed its resilience to the economic downturn, posting a 10 percent rise in underlying annual profit to 3.13 billion pounds ($4.6 billion), a record for a British retailer.

LG Electronics Inc posted a 25 percent fall in quarterly operating profit on Tuesday, hurt by the global recession, but results beat expectations on resilient handset margins and improvements in its flat screen TV business.

The U.S. Treasury's plan to purge toxic assets from banks' balance sheets is vulnerable to fraud and abuse and needs tough rules against conflict of interest, the government's bailout watchdog said on Tuesday.

The Obama administration will make about $500 million available to Chrysler LLC through the end of this month as it seeks to reach an alliance with Fiat, and up to $5 billion through May to help General Motors Corp restructure outside of bankruptcy, an independent oversight report on the Treasury Department's corporate rescue fund said on Tuesday.

Oil steadied above $45 a barrel on Tuesday, pausing after an almost 9-percent fall a day earlier as traders awaited further cues on demand from U.S. economic, corporate and oil inventory data.

Executives from Google Inc, AT&T Inc, Twitter and other high tech companies are visiting Iraq this week to explore how technology may help fight corruption and build a more accountable society, the U.S. State Department said on Monday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he would consider the health of the financial system and the flow of credit in deciding whether banks can repay bailout funds from the government, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Chinese carmaker BYD is hopeful its exports can recover by the second half of 2009, after a decline of more than 70 percent in the first quarter due to the economic recession.

President Barak Obama plans to crack down on the credit card industry that has loaded consumers with huge debts and sky high interest rates.

Sharp and Japanese telecom company AU (KDDI) is expected to released the unnamed new solar and waterproof phone on June.

Toshiba's high-definition ON-AIR MAX play out server with IBM’s Media Hub Framework will be showcase in an ongoing National Association of Broadcasters’ annual convention in Las Vegas.

PepsiCo Inc said Monday it will buy the two largest bottlers Pepsi Bottling Group and Pepsi Americas for $6 billion, in a move to control its unit about 80 percent in North American.

Zions Bancorp on Monday posted a big quarterly loss because of a write-down and commercial real estate losses, prompting Moody's Investors Service to downgrade it deep into junk status and warn that the large western U.S. bank could become undercapitalized.

Four days of intensive hearings will begin tomorrow morning to discuss a draft of “The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009” which one participant calls the most important piece of energy legislation in the last 50 years.

British Mathematician and psychiatrist, Stephen Hawking, spent the night in hospital after becoming very ill at Cambridge University earlier today.

Texas Instruments posted a surprise quarterly profit on better-than-expected revenue as demand for its chips improved in Asia, and it gave a rosier-than-expected outlook for the current quarter.