(Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Tuesday as the market consolidated after strong gains last week and manufacturing data did little to boost investors' sentiment. New orders received by U.S. factories bounced back in May, boosted by demand for transportation equipment, a government report showed. The 0.8 percent rise was slightly below economists' forecast.

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(Reuters) - New orders received by factories bounced back in May, boosted by demand for transportation equipment and a range of other products, pointing to underlying strength in manufacturing. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday orders for manufactured goods rose 0.8 percent after a 0.9 percent fall in April. Economists had forecast factory orders rebounding 1.0 percent in May. Manufacturing is leading the economic recovery, with data on Friday showing a pick-up in the sector as the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index rose to 55.3 in June from 53.5 in May.

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(Reuters) - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn inched closer on Tuesday to having U.S. sex assault charges against him dropped although a complaint of assault in France could pose a further hurdle to any political comeback. The New York Post cited an unnamed senior investigator as saying prosecutors would drop their charges at a court hearing in two weeks, or even earlier, due to doubts about the credibility of the alleged victim.

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(Reuters) - International banks and insurers will thrash out improvements to a plan for the private sector to contribute to Greece's bailout effort at a meeting in Paris on Wednesday, in a bid to prevent the proposal coming unstuck. The Institute of International Finance (IIF) lobby group said it will chair the meeting of private sector creditors and officials. The IIF Friday said banks supported proposals to aid Greece and were considering a small number of options. Creditors are now trying to hammer out details.

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(Reuters) - China's local government debt burden may be 3.5 trillion yuan ($540 billion) larger than auditors estimated, putting banks on the hook for deeper losses that could threaten their credit ratings, Moody's said on Tuesday. Addressing the estimate by China's state auditor that its local governments have chalked up 10.7 trillion yuan of debt, Moody's said it found more potential loans after accounting for discrepencies in figures given by various Chinese authorities.

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(Reuters) - Canadian train maker Bombardier is cutting more than 1,400 jobs at its plant in Derby, central England, after losing out to German group Siemens in a competition to upgrade rolling stock on the Thameslink cross-London railway. Bombardier said it would cut 446 permanent jobs and 983 temporary jobs from its 3,000-strong Derby workforce having missed out on the Thameslink contract and completed much of its current workload, which includes supplying London Underground.

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(Reuters) - Pipeline operator Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE.N) sweetened its deal for rival Southern Union (SUG.N) 21 percent to about $5 billion, as it works to muscle out a competing offer from Williams Companies Inc (WMB.N). Southern Union Chief Executive George Lindemann and Chief Operating Officer Eric Herschmann also volunteered to cancel the controversial consulting and non-compete agreements they signed as part of the original deal with Energy Transfer that would have paid them each $50 million over five years.

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(Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the alleged hacking of a murdered schoolgirl's voicemail by the News of the World, part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, as the scandal closed in on a top News Corp executive and Murdoch protegee. That the prime minister should find time to comment while on a visit to troops in Afghanistan was a measure of the uproar at home over suggestions that the tabloid might have hampered police and added to the torment of the family of a 13-year-old, abducted in 2002, whose killer was convicted only last month.

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(Reuters) - World stocks hit a 4-1/2 week high Monday as investors grew confident over global economic prospects after Greece avoided an early debt default and data pointed to a moderate slowdown in China's growth. Shanghai stocks hit a six-week high after data last week showed Chinese manufacturing growth moderated in June, raising expectations that the economy may not be heading for a sharp slowdown despite monetary policy tightening.

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(Reuters) - Greece would likely be in default if it follows a debt rollover plan pushed by French banks, S&P warned on Monday, deepening the pain of a bailout that one European official said will cost Athens sovereignty and jobs. European politicians and bankers had expressed confidence last week that the French proposal would not trigger a default, but ratings agency Standard & Poor's said it would involve losses to debt holders, most likely earning Greece a "selective default" rating.

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