International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N) plans to buy technology services company SPSS Inc (SPSS.O) for about $1.2 billion in cash, the companies said on Tuesday. SPSS shareholders will receive $50 a share, a 42 percent premium to Monday's closing price of $35.09 on Nasdaq. Chicago-based SPSS provides predictive analytics software and services. Predictive analytics are

Stocks fell on Tuesday as a drop in July consumer confidence and disappointing quarterly results and outlooks from Office Depot Inc and U.S. Steel Corp reignited concerns about the strength of recovery. U.S. consumer confidence fell in July, according to the Conference Board, more than expected and marking the second consecutive monthly decline as a

The British government has published a guide to help ministers understand how to use the social networking site Twitter, with the aim of extending its news and corporate messages online. Twitter, which lets users post "Tweets" of up to 140 characters, has surged in popularity since its launch in 2006. With government departments such as

Sprint Nextel Corp said it will buy Virgin Mobile USA in a deal that values the equity of the small wireless carrier at $483 million, including Sprint's current 13.1 percent stake. Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, also agreed to retire all of Virgin Mobile USA's outstanding debt when the deal closes, which is

What do you do when you're a small online social network trying to compete against a behemoth like Facebook? The answer may be to try to carve out a separate path by becoming a niche website for a specific audience base that advertisers, hopefully, want to target. While this is no easy challenge — given

The dollar rebounded from its lowest level this year versus a basket of currencies on Tuesday as weaker U.S. consumer confidence data rekindled worries about the economy, enhancing the greenback's safe-haven allure. The yen also rallied across-the-board as U.S. stocks fell and investors dumped riskier assets. U.S. consumer confidence fell more than expected in July,

Russia will complete construction work for the 2014 Winter Olympics on schedule despite the economic crisis and will strive to minimise costs, a senior government official said in an interview on Tuesday. Russia is expected to run budget deficits in the next three years and plans to borrow $59 billion abroad. Its financial woes raised

European stocks slipped while U.S. stock futures pointed to a weaker open on Wall Street on Tuesday after strong optimism over corporate earnings sent world stocks to fresh 9-month peaks. BP's disappointing report of a halving in quarterly profits and Deutsche Bank's significant rise in loan provisions prompted investors to book profits after world stocks

The global economic crisis could have a "disastrous" impact on health and school projects in the developing world unless rich nations spend a tiny fraction of stimulus measures to help the poor, a World Bank official said. Marwan Muasher, the World Bank's senior vice president for external affairs, said that although there were some signs