NEW YORK - US STOCKS opened slightly higher on Tuesday amid persistent economic worries as investors focused on Congressional testimony by top officials on the government's financial rescue plan.

BRUSSELS - TRADING in shares in the rump of Fortis bank was suspended on the Belgian and Dutch stock markets on Tuesday ahead of a court ruling on BNP Paribas' takeover of part of the ailing company.

WASHINGTON - THE US wholesale prices plunged a record amount in Oct as energy prices fell by the largest amount in 22 years.

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that wholesale prices dropped by 2.8 per cent in Oct, the biggest one-month decline on records that go back more than 60 years. The previous record holder was a 1.6 per cent fall in Oct 2001, the month after the terrorist attacks.