Business

Reuters - Major U.S. auto retail groups on Tuesday posted quarterly results that underscore their mixed success in offsetting pressure from slumping new vehicle sales through sales of used cars, financing and service operations.

Reuters - The Federal Reserve began a two-day meeting on Tuesday that was expected to end with a small interest rate cut that could be the last in a string of reductions dating to mid-September.

Reuters - Consumer confidence fell to a five-year low this month as Americans confronted the grimmest jobs outlook since late 2004, while data also showed a record drop in home prices in February.

AP - Soaring gas prices and weaker job prospects made Americans gloomier about the economy in April, sending a widely watched measure of consumer sentiment to a five-year low, a private research group said Tuesday.

Business

Reuters - Confidence in Merck & Co's earnings prospects withered on Tuesday, along with its stock price, after U.S. regulators surprisingly rejected the drugmaker's treatment to raise levels of "good" HDL cholesterol.

Reuters - Oil fell more than $2 a barrel on Tuesday, retreating further from a record high hit a day before, as the dollar firmed and a strike ended at Britain's Grangemouth refinery.

Reuters - Countrywide Financial Corp , the largest U.S. mortgage lender, posted a surprisingly large $893.1 million first-quarter loss on Tuesday, taking more than $3 billion of charges for write-downs and bad loans as the housing slump deepens.

Reuters - Stocks declined on Tuesday after news of a sharp drop in consumer confidence and regulators rejected a key new drug from Merck & Co Inc , a Dow component and a pharmaceuticals bellwether.

Reuters - Confidence among U.S. consumers fell to a five-year low in April as they confronted the grimmest jobs outlook since late 2004 and they expect inflation to rival the levels last seen in the early 1980s, the Conference Board said on Tuesday.

AP - Office Depot Inc., the nation's second biggest office-supply chain, said Tuesday its first-quarter profit dropped 55 percent due to North American sales declines, but results still managed to top Wall Street's expectations. Its shares rose 7 percent on premarket trading. More Info...