(Reuters) - Consumer confidence rose in February to a three-year high amid improved optimism about the economy and income prospects, according to a private sector report released on Tuesday. The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 70.4 in February from a revised 64.8 in January. It was the highest level since February 2008.

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(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc posted its seventh consecutive quarterly drop in sales at existing U.S. stores and said it will take some time to turn around sales in that unit. The world's largest retailer has struggled with pricing as it has lost customers to dollar stores while it also is still recovering from a poorly executed decision, since reversed, to pare down the number of items it offered.

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(Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc (BKS.N) suspended its dividend to preserve its dwindling cash and declined to give a sales forecast for the current quarter, sending its shares down 8 percent. Barnes & Noble, which put itself up for sale last summer, reported a lower-than-expected profit for the holiday quarter despite a sales increase as the top U.S. bookstore chain continued to invest in developing its e-books strategy, led by its Nook e-reader.

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(Reuters) - Home Depot Inc (HD.N) beat quarterly profit and sales estimates and raised its fiscal-year outlook as shoppers took up long-delayed maintenance and repair projects for their homes in a slowly recovering U.S. economy. The news boosted shares of the world's largest home improvement retailer by 2.2 percent on Tuesday. Smaller rival Lowe's Cos Inc (LOW.N) is due to report results on Wednesday.

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(Reuters) - Macy's Inc (M.N) posted a higher-than-expected profit after sales rose during the holiday quarter, and the department store chain forecast continued gains this year. For its new fiscal year, Macy's expects sales at stores open at least a year to rise 3 percent. It forecast earnings of between $2.25 and $2.30 a share, which would be an increase from the just-ended year.

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(Reuters) - BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) struck a deal to buy shale gas reserves from Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.N) for $4.75 billion, pitting itself against oil giants and China in the battle for the fast-growing energy source in North America. The deal marks the top global miner's first attempt at picking up assets since failing on three mega-deals over the past three years, and sets it further apart from its mining peers with a big bet on the world's biggest gas market.

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(Reuters) - Spain is confident euro zone leaders will agree to strengthen their multi-billion euro rescue fund at a summit next month, but European Central Bank member Axel Weber cast doubt on whether that should happen. In an interview with Reuters, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he was making headway in convincing financial markets Spain was getting its economy in order, and said he was confident Germany would support a stronger euro zone fund despite Chancellor Angela Merkel's domestic problems.

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(Reuters) - A housing trade association is examining the possibility that the data it releases underestimated the collapse of the housing industry, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The National Association of Realtors, which issues the monthly existing home sales report that is closely watched by economists and financial markets, may have over-counted home sales dating as far back as 2007, the newspaper said in an article posted to its web site.

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(Reuters) - Oil prices charged to fresh 2-1/2 year highs on Monday as traders reacted to increasing violence in major producer Libya, which fed investor fears about rising inflation and unsettled other markets. Globally, equities were lower and there was no input from U.S. markets, where there was a holiday. But European equities fell more than 1 percent on a combination of uncertainty over the future of the oil price, increasing signs that higher interest rates may be coming and more evidence of a surprisingly poor earnings season.

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(Reuters) - BP is making one of the biggest foreign direct investments in India to date with a $7.2 billion tie-up with Reliance Industries to explore for deepwater oil and gas. This marks the second major deal under BP's new chief executive Bob Dudley, who last month agreed a share swap with Russia's state-controlled Rosneft to jointly explore for offshore oil and gas in the Arctic.

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