Tuesday Morning Business Brief

Stocks closed little changed Monday on Wall Street on the federal holiday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell a quarter point at 12,815. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained a fraction to 1,380. The Nasdaq composite fell less than a point to 2,904. Futures trading suggest losses this morning.

• International stock markets fell today after Europe's finance ministers postponed approval of an urgently needed aid payment for debt-mired Greece. Benchmark crude oil fell below $85 per barrel. The dollar rose against the euro but fell against the yen.
• The Treasury today releases federal budget numbers for October. On the earnings front, Cisco Systems and The Home Depot report quarterly financial results.
• The credit reporting agency TransUnion says the percentage of mortgage holders at least two months behind on their payments fell in the third quarter to 5.41 percent, the lowest point in more than three years. The mortgage delinquency rate hasn't been this low since the first quarter of 2009. Still, it remains well above the 1 percent to 2 percent average historical range.
• Microsoft says that Steven Sinofsky, the president of its Windows and Windows Live operations, is leaving the company. Sinofsky's departure comes just weeks after the Redmond, Wash., software company launched Windows 8, which represented a major overhaul of its ubiquitous computer operating system. Microsoft Corp. says it has promoted company veteran Julie Larson-Green.

You can find the latest local business news on the Back to Business page of KELOLAND.com.