Stocks Fall on Economic Worries

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Among other stocks in the news on Tuesday, Google (GOOG) announced the beta launch of its own web browser, Google Chrome, which will seek to take market share from Microsoft's (MSFT) Explorer. Google also unveiled a new video application called Google Video. Standard & Poor's reiterated its hold rating on the stock.

Sciele Pharma (SCRX) agreed to be acquired by Shionogi & Co. Ltd. for about $1.1 billion, or $31 per share cash. There is no financing condition to the tender offer or subsequent merger. S&P downgraded the stock to hold from buy due to its higher valuation.

Suncor Energy (SU) said that production at its oil sands facility during August averaged about 260,000 barrels a day as expected, but said the proportion of low-sulphur crude oil products was lower than planned due to the unscheduled shutdown of a plant that supplies a portion of the hydrogen used to remove sulphur from synthetic crude oil and diesel fuel.

International Shipholding Corp. (ISH) received a cash buyout proposal of $25.75 per share from Liberty Shipping Group LLC.

Major European indexes were trading higher Tuesday. In London, the FTSE 100 index was up 0.32% at 5,620.70. In Paris, the CAC 40 advanced 1.50% to 4,539.07, while Germany's DAX index gained 1.51% to trade at 6,518.47.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 shed 1.75% to end at 12,609.47, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.65% to 21,042.46.

Treasury market

Treasury yields reversed lower on soft manufacturing numbers and the fizzling of the equities rally. The 10-year note moved up to 102-06/32 for a yield of 3.73% and the 30-year bond climbed 1-05/32 to 102-13/32 for a yield of 4.35%.

Bogoslaw is a reporter for BusinessWeek's Investing channel.