(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)DJ Stoxx 600 slipped in red on Tuesday, with oil recovering from its intraday low towards the opening session. The Commerce Department is scheduled to report on housing starts and building permits at 10 a.m IST. Economists believe housing starts fell again in October after declining in September to their lowest level since 1993. Consumer confidence data is also due at 10 a.m. Also, the Fed will release minutes from its Oct. 31 meeting, when it lowered interest rates by a quarter percentage point, after lowering them by half a point in September for the first time in four years. Meanwhile Crude Oil recovered from day’s low towards the opening session, as Russia formally recognized the independence of Georgia's breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, risking a deepening rift with the West and striking a blow against NATO's expansion toward its border.

Meanwhile European Markets sank, German business and consumer confidence fell more than economists forecast, heightening concern that Europe's largest economy may be slipping into a recession. The Munich-based Ifo institute's business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, dropped to a three-year low of 94.8 from 97.5 in July. Consumer sentiment slumped to the lowest level in five years, according to Nuremberg-based market research company GfK AG.

Ifo's gauge of business expectations dropped to 87, the lowest since February 1993, when Germany was experiencing the worst recession of the past two decades. A measure of current conditions eased to 103.2 from 105.7.

The economy contracted 0.5 percent in the three months through June as construction slumped and companies and households reduced spending, the Federal Statistics Office confirmed today. Exports also fell. The euro slid to $1.4582, the lowest level since Feb. 14, the lowest level in more than six months. With outlook for Eurozone worsening, the chances of the European Central Bank cutting interest rates are growing. The euro has lost more than 8 percent versus the dollar since touching an all-time high of $1.6038 on July 15, sliding as manufacturing and service industries in the 15-nation euro region contracted for a third straight month in August and crude oil dropped more than 20 percent from a record $147.27 a barrel set last month.

Asian Stocks also finished in red on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei stock average slipped 0.8 percent on Tuesday. Hong Kong shares closed flat but well off their early lows on Tuesday. The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI unofficially closed down 18.68 points at 21,086.11 after dropping to 20,785.80 earlier.

General Motors Corp’s Middle East chief informed that the company has received interest from two separate investors from the Gulf Arab region to buy its Hummer brand. Close-out retailer Big Lots Inc reported an 11 percent rise in quarterly profit that beat market estimates, as shoppers headed to its stores for low prices on furniture, food and paper products, and raised its earnings forecast for the current financial year. Big Lots said profit rose to $26.0 million, or 32 cents per share, in its second quarter ended August 2 from $23.4 million, or 22 cents per share, a year earlier. Global miner Rio Tinto posted a better-than-expected 55 percent jump in first-half profit, boosted by its 2007 takeover of Alcan and strong Chinese demand, and raised its dividend on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Singapore wealth fund Temasek warned of further contagion from the global credit crisis after it doubled its full-year profit by selling billions of dollars of assets.