WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar is range-trading ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia's cash rate decision.
At 0630 AEDT on Tuesday, the Australian dollar was trading at 87.64 US cents, up from 87.48 cents on Monday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open sharply lower after Wall Street plunged as lacklustre reports on Chinese and US manufacturing activity added to concerns about economic growth and emerging-market economies.
At 0645 AEDT on Tuesday, the March share price index futures contract was down 92 points, at 5,053.
ELSEWHERE:
WASHINGTON - Respected economist Janet Yellen has been sworn in as the first woman chair of the US Federal Reserve, taking on the burden of winding down the Fed's stimulus without spurring more turmoil.
WASHINGTON - Ben Bernanke, who stepped down last week after eight momentous years as chairman of the Federal Reserve, is joining the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
WASHINGTON - US manufacturing sector growth has slowed sharply, with new orders nearly stalling, according to the Institute for Supply Management's purchasing managers index.
WASHINGTON - US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has warned that the United States will exhaust its borrowing authority on Friday without action by Congress to lift the debt limit.
CHICAGO - Bitter cold and massive snowstorms took a bite out of US motor vehicle sales in January, but Chrysler says it extended a winning streak even as its rivals posted significant losses.
BRUSSELS - Corruption across the European Union's 28 countries costs about 120 billion euros ($A186.54 billion) per year - a "breathtaking" sum equal to the EU's entire annual budget, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem says.
TOKYO - Japan 's biggest bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group says its nine-month net profit has soared more than 47 per cent to $US7.7 billion ($A8.79 billion) as the country's lenders cashed in on a soaring stock market.
LONDON - Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins has announced that he will forgo his annual bonus for 2013 after the British bank faced "very significant costs" over a series of scandals and carried out a cash call on shareholders.
BUENOS AIRES - Shell has raised fuel prices in Argentina by 12 per cent, drawing fire from the government of President Cristina Kirchner as it struggles with inflationary pressures.
