(Reuters) - General Motors Co on Tuesday posted a 7.6 percent sales gain in July on stronger demand for compact vehicles including the Chevrolet Cruze car and Equinox crossover. GM said U.S. sales rose to 214,915 new cars and light trucks, within the range of analysts' expectations and up from 199,692 vehicles last year. The rest of the automakers are scheduled to release their U.S. sales results for July later on Tuesday. Thirty-nine economists polled by Reuters were expecting an annual sales rate in July of 11.8 million vehicles.

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(Reuters) - Financial market pressure on Italy intensified on Tuesday, sucking Europe's second biggest debtor nation deeper into the euro area danger zone and prompting Italian authorities to call emergency talks. Italian bond yields hit their highest level in the euro's 11-year lifetime, ominously reaching the same level as Spain's in a sign that Rome is overtaking Madrid as the main focus of investors' concern about debt sustainability.

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(Reuters) - Stocks turned negative after a strong opening on Monday as relief over a last-ditch debt deal in Washington faded after a weak reading on the manufacturing sector. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported the pace of growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector slowed more than expected in July while new orders hit their lowest level since June 2009.

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(Reuters) - Manufacturing grew at its slowest pace in two years in July as new orders contracted, a troubling development for the faltering economy. The Institute for Supply Management said on Monday its index of national factory activity fell to 50.9, the lowest level since July 2009, from 55.3 in June. Economists had expected a reading of 54.9. A reading below 50 indicates contraction in manufacturing.

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(Reuters) - HSBC will shed 30,000 jobs as it retreats from countries where it is struggling to compete, Europe's biggest bank said on Monday after it reported a surprise rise in first-half profit. Shares in HSBC rose over 4 percent after it unveiled first-half pretax profits of $11.5 billion, up from $11.1 billion a year ago and better than the $10.8 billion average in a Reuters poll of analysts.

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SHELL GAMES: A Reuters Investigation Articles in this series are exploring the extent and impact of corporate secrecy in the United States. By Nanette Byrnes and Lynnley Browning

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(Reuters) - Eastman Kodak (EK.N) adopted a poison pill on Monday to preserve its tax assets, as it looks to sell its valuable intellectual property portfolio and reduce the tax hit from any gain on that sale. A poison pill, or shareholder rights plan, is also used to protect the company from an unwanted takeover. Under the poison pill, if any person or group tried to acquire 4.9 percent or more of Kodak's outstanding shares, Kodak could issue more shares to dilute its ownership.

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(Reuters) - Retailers are poised to report higher sales for July, a discount-driven month that may do little to lift their margins. July sales figures will give investors an early read on demand in the consumer-driven U.S. economy at the start of the back-to-school season, the second-biggest selling period of the year after Christmas.

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(Reuters) - Averting a U.S. debt default solves only the immediate fiscal problem for the West and its big creditors in Asia. The U.S. sovereign debt path remains unsustainable. Investors are growing reluctant to lend cheap money to a handful of European countries. Either of those could erupt into another bout of market-bruising uncertainty.

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(Reuters) - EU and IMF officials launched their first review of Portugal's international bailout on Monday, with the focus on how the government plans to correct a budget slippage and meet its promised fiscal targets this year. The verdict on Lisbon's efforts to meet the terms of the 78-billion euro rescue package agreed in May will help determine whether the lenders release a second tranche of funds or set additional conditions for doing so.

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