Australia's Fortescue Metals Group Ltd will change its roster to increase the time workers spend at mines, as the world's fourth largest iron ore producer rushes to reduce costs in the face of plunging prices for the steelmaking ingredient.

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), the world's biggest automaker, will spend $1 billion to build a car factory in Mexico and plans to announce the investment on Wednesday, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The yen rose across the board on Tuesday, hitting a two-year high against the euro, after an economic adviser to Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated that the currency might have fallen too far and needed to retrace some of its losses.

Net foreign purchases of Philippine shares jumped to $1.1 billion in January-to-March, the highest for any quarter in almost three years and more than twice the net volume of funds flowing into Southeast Asia's biggest economy Indonesia.

Nokia Oyj (NOK1V.HE) is in talks to buy smaller telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA), a deal that would combine the industry's two weakest players but could pose challenges in cutting costs and overcoming political opposition.

Crude oil rose on Tuesday after a forecast that U.S. shale oil output would record its first monthly decline in more than four years and on tension in Yemen, where top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is embroiled in a civil war.

JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, reported a 12.2 percent rise in quarterly profit as revenue from fixed-income trading rebounded.

European share markets touched a 14-year high on Tuesday, supported by takeover talks between telecoms equipment firms Nokia and Alcatel Lucent, while a shifting global monetary policy outlook weighed on the euro.

China's export sales contracted 15 percent in March, a shock outcome that deepens concern about sputtering Chinese economic growth.

Business associations from the United States, Japan and Europe told Chinese officials on Monday they still have "strong concerns" about bank information technology rules and urged Beijing to formally suspend them.

International Business Machines Corp, deepening its partnership with Apple Inc to make use of health information gathered by millions of Apple devices, is creating a unit dedicated to providing data analytics to the healthcare sector.

European Union rules banning state aid to businesses should not apply to guarantees issued to boost investment under the three-year EU investment scheme, some of the key contributors to the plan said on Monday.

Equities in major markets slipped on Monday, weighed down by Wall Street on trepidation over first-quarter earnings, while crude prices added to last week's gains on concern about Middle East tensions.

Federal Reserve policymakers should not read too much into financial market prices to glean the views of investors on interest rates or inflation because prices are hard to decipher, according to research released Monday by the San Francisco Fed.

The United States ended the month of March with a budget deficit of $53 billion, up 43 percent from the same period last year, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Monday.

Crude futures rose on Monday, but closed well below intraday peaks, as concerns about Iran and turmoil in Yemen supported prices, while the global supply glut continued to cap gains.

U.S. stocks dipped on Monday as fears increased that the strong dollar and lower oil prices will hurt U.S. first-quarter earnings.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday paved the way for long-overdue missile system deliveries to Iran and Moscow started an oil-for-goods swap with Tehran, showing the Kremlin's determination to boost economic ties with the Islamic Republic.

The drop in big oil companies' profits in the past eight months isn't just a function of lower crude prices – it also reflects strategic choices.

Some of Australia's biggest manufacturers fear a planned $70 billion takeover of BG Group Plc (BG.L) by Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) could potentially worsen what they see as a lack of competition in the country's eastern gas market.

Activist investor Jana Partners is asking Qualcomm Inc to consider spinning off its chip unit from its patent-licensing business to boost the chipmaker's sagging stock price, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a quarterly letter that will be sent to Jana investors on Monday.

Japan's core machinery orders fell for a second straight month in February in a sign that business investment remains soft, and analysts say the smaller-than-expected decline won't necessarily allow policymakers to relax given an uncertain economic outlook.

The World Bank cut its 2015 growth forecasts for developing East Asia and China, and warned of "significant" risks from global uncertainties including the potential impact from a strengthening dollar and higher U.S. interest rates.

The Brazilian iPhone was meant to mark a new era. When Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group agreed in April 2011 to make Apple products here, President Dilma Rousseff and her advisers promised that up to $12 billion in investments over six years would transform the Brazilian technology sector, putting it on the cutting edge of touch screen development. A new supply chain would be created, generating high-quality jobs and bringing down prices of the coveted gadgets.

A shock fall in Chinese exports hammered the Australian dollar on Monday, though expectations of fresh economic stimulus from Beijing helped Asian stocks higher

More than 400 striking hourly workers represented by the United Steelworkers union (USW) at Lyondell Basell Industries' Houston refinery are scheduled to vote on the company's last, best and final offer on Monday and Tuesday, a local union official said on Sunday.

Airbus (AIR.PA) will not abandon its A380 jumbo jet program despite slow sales, its chief executive told Les Echos newspaper, and needs more time to decide whether to redesign its engines as major customer Emirates Airline has requested.

World oil markets will not see a significant rise in Iranian supplies for up to five years even if the OPEC member and world powers clinch a final nuclear deal by end-June, Fatih Birol chief economist and future head of International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

Julius Baer (BAER.VX) has not held talks with larger rival Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) about merging, the Swiss private bank's chief executive said in comments made in the weekly Schweiz am Sonntag.

Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) Chairman Ferdinand Piech faces growing resistance within the carmaker's supervisory board to his criticism of Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn.