IBT Staff Reporter

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said on Tuesday he believed North Korea would stop its uranium enrichment program by the end of the year.

Two aircraft were involved in a minor collision on the ground at London's Heathrow airport on Monday. No one was injured.

U.S. shoppers may spend more money on holiday purchases this year, but that spending will increase at only about half the pace it did a year ago, an industry trade group study released on Tuesday found.

The yen rallied from the previous day's two-month lows versus the euro and dollar on Tuesday, while the New Zealand dollar fell sharply as a sell-off in European equities underlined a diminished appetite for risk.

Poor corporate earnings and renewed worries about credit rattled investors on Tuesday, while record high oil prices threatened to add pressure to world growth.

Oil thundered towards $88 a barrel on Tuesday, hitting a new record and extending a rally that has added eight dollars in as many days on tight supplies, strong demand and tension in northern Iraq.

An energy development consortium led by U.S. oil producer Chevron Corp. in Kazakhstan is facing challenges from the Russian government over a pipeline that runs through Russian territory, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Growth in U.S. industrial output likely slowed in September, as the housing slump seemed to cool the manufacturing sector and the demand for big-ticket items, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

U.S. financial markets are healthier after a turbulent summer, but a full recovery will take time and the Federal Reserve will act as needed to support market stability as well as noninflationary growth, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Monday.

Retail stocks fell on Monday, outpacing losses in the broader market, with Big Lots leading decliners.

Major stock indexes fell on Monday amid lingering worries that problems plaguing the credit markets have not been eliminated yet.

Boeing Co on Monday welcomed the chance to upgrade the U.S. Army's 95 remaining A-model Apache AH-64 attack helicopters, noting its Apache deliveries had been on time and within budget for the past 10 years.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Monday if elected he would push to exclude Russia from the Group of Eight conclave of major industrial nations to punish Moscow for rolling back political freedoms.

The dollar eased against the yen and euro on Monday, weighed down by weakness in the U.S. stock market after comments by a top Citigroup official raised anew concerns about global credit.

President George W. Bush ratcheted up the pressure on U.S. Democrats on Monday to adhere to his budget plans or face a string of vetoes on government spending bills.

Oil jumped nearly 3 percent to a record over $86 a barrel on Monday as fresh tensions in the Middle East added to worries of a supply crunch when cold weather stokes up heating demand this winter. Oil prices have more than quadrupled since 2002 but remain below the inflation adjusted peak of around $90 a barrel struck after the Iranian revolution of 1979.

Ford Motor Co Chief Executive Alan Mulally said on Monday he is pleased with the breadth and depth of interest in Ford's British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover.

Thirty Chinese central Stated-owned enterprises (SOEs) are planning overall listing, the China Business today cited an insider close to the State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) as saying.

Swiss Re joined those circling 5 billion pound ($10 billion) takeover target Resolution on Monday, confirming it may back potential bidder Standard Life by taking on some Resolution assets.

British billionaire Richard Branson said on Monday his Virgin Group hopes to produce clean biofuels by around the start of the next decade and early next year will test a jet plane on renewable fuel.Virgin hopes to provide clean fuel for buses, trains and cars within three or four years, Branson told a Mortgage Bankers Association meeting in Boston.

Gold struck a 28-year high on Monday, with the metal's appeal polished by a weak dollar, record high oil prices and geo-political tensions, while continued supply worries swept platinum to lifetime peaks.

Stable gasoline prices over the last two months have shielded U.S. consumers from the impact of galloping crude oil prices, but drivers will face more pain at the pump if the cost of crude remains high into next spring.

The UK Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) released figures this Monday which gave greater weight to the belief that house price inflation is finally slowing down.

Broadcom Corp said on Monday it had developed an integrated third-generation (3G) high-speed wireless cell phone chip ahead of bigger rivals Texas Instruments Inc and Qualcomm Inc, sending Broadcom shares up as much as 3 percent.

U.S. stocks fell on Monday, led lower by the financial services sector after Citigroup Inc offered a gloomier outlook and worries resurfaced about the stability of the buyout market.

HSBC Holdings, Europe's biggest bank, said on Monday it has not participated in talks with big U.S. banks forming an US$80 billion fund to buy ailing mortgage securities and other assets, and added there are no plans for a similar fund in Europe.

India's No. 2 lender, ICICI Bank, expects to sustain 70 percent growth in its private wealth management business this year on the back of rising affluence, a senior official said on Monday.

French food group Danone will sell its 20 percent stake in major Chinese dairy producer Bright Dairy and Food Co, the Chinese company said on Monday.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, India's top software services exporter, beat forecasts with a 25.7 percent jump in quarterly profit on Monday as it won large outsourcing deals and raised fees for customers.