NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Beckman Coulter Inc. said Tuesday its chief exectuive officer, Scott Garrett, resigned. Garrett will continue as a full-time, non-executive employee of the company through Jan. 15. The board named J. Robert Hurley, an executive at the firm, as interim president and CEO. The Brea, Calif. maker of laboratory medical instruments launched a search for a new CEO.

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HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- China rebuffed pressure to reform its currency on Tuesday, amid visits by two senior U.S envoys in Beijing. "Exchange rate reform can't be pressed ahead under external pressure," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu was cited as saying in reports. She added that China would "firmly oppose" politicizing any trade and economic issues, during comment at a briefing related to the visit of of U.S. National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers and U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon. Jiang reportedly said Beijing would press ahead with reforms leading to "dynamic management" of the its exchange rate, but did not specify a timeline, according to reports.

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FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Germany's manufacturing orders dropped 2.2% in July from the previous month, the economics ministry reported on Tuesday. Economists expected a rise of 0.5% month-on-month, according to Action Economics. Orders in June increased by an upwardly revised 3.6%, the ministry said. Following the data, the euro traded down 0.7% to $1.2740.

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LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Morgan Stanley on Tuesday raised its rating on Nokia Corp. , the world's largest maker of mobile phones, by two notches to overweight from underweight, and lifted its price target to 9 euros from 6.50 euros. The broker told clients that recent checks with retailers and suppliers suggest a better-than-expected take-up of the upcoming N8 smartphone at a lower discount than feared. This implies, Morgan Stanley said, that the average selling price of a Nokia handset could grow in 2011 for the first time since 2000 and may help the Finnish maker increase market share in the fourth quarter. The broker said Nokia still has plenty to prove but the risk/reward has now turned positive.

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LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Barclays Capital on Tuesday shuffled its ratings in the telecoms sector. The broker downgraded France Telecom [s:fte] to underweight from equal-weight, citing pricing pressure in its domestic fixed-line business and the risk that the company may pace a hefty price to enter new African markets. Barclays also lowered its rating on Spain's Telefonica , to equal-weight from overweight, citing the recent strong share price performance. The broker said that for the stock to outperform over the next 12 months investors need to see the repatriation of the $1.8 billion cash pile in Venezuela, an earlier-than-expected economic recovery in Spain and a successful integration of mobile operator Vivo into its Brazilian fixed-line assets.

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