UPGRADES: Deutsche Bank upgrades Alcoa (NYSE: AA) from Sell to Hold. Click here for more color on the upgrade. Merriman Curhan upgrades Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) from Neutral to Buy. UBS upgrades Autodesk (Nasdaq: ADSK) from Sell to Neutral. Price target $16. Davenport upgrades Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) from Neutral to Buy. Price target $24. Here is t...

Barclays (NYSE: BCS) is in talks to sell its iShares asset management unit to PE shop, CVC Partners, for approximately $4 billion, according to Reuters. The sale would not include the securities lending business of Barclays Global Investors (BGI), the parent of iShares, the source told Reuters. Barclays would retain a roughly 20% exposure to iShar...

TLC Vision Corporation (Nasdaq: TLCV) 34% LOWER; reports Q4 loss of $1.89, which may not compare to the analyst estimate of ($0.09) and versus a loss of $0.37 reported in the same quarter last year. Revenue for the quarter was $53.7 million, versus the consensus of $47.84 million. TBS International Limited (NASDAQ: TBSI) 19.4% HIGHER; reports Q4 EP...

American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) 4% LOWER; lowers its FY09 EPS guidance from $3.00-$4.00 to $2.75-$3.05 per share. The revised guidance recognizes current operating and economic factors and reflects dilution from the company’s planned issuance of new equity. Oxford Industries (NYSE: OXM) 2.4% LOWER; reports Q4 EPS of $0.06, ex-items, 3 cen...

Marks & Spencer was the stand out gainer on the FTSE 100, as London’s equities market rebounded from the previous session’s sharp sell off ...

Belgium’s Solvay was in focus amid talk that a large European drugmaker was running its tape measure over the chemicals and pharmaceuticals group. Its shares rose 4.9 per cent while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology index gained 2.9 per cent ...

The rally is not matched by a significant improvement in corporate credit, suggesting to some analysts that stocks are simply enjoying a bear market rally, not establishing a new bull trend ...

Asia-Pacific equities were positioned to mark their biggest monthly gain in a decade despite declines in some major markets including Japan where the economic outlook continued to look gloomy ...

The Obama administration also replaced GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner with the company’s chief operating officer, Fritz Henderson. Fears of an automaker bankruptcy have been looming over investors for months, … ...

NEW YORK: US stocks tumbled on Monday as two major US automakers took a step closer to potential bankruptcy, and a spate of European bank rescues heightened concerns over the financial system’s hea… ...