UNITED STATES

Barclays Plc is considering moving its global headquarters from London to New York due to the threat of higher capital requirements in the UK, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell in March, despite continued downsizing in the public sector, a report said on Wednesday.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday as data showed private employers added jobs in a sign of economic improvement and acquisition activity lifted sentiment.

Gold shot up by nearly one percent on Wednesday, after four sessions of losses amid broad support from unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, but gains may stay limited by expectations monetary policy in key regions may tighten. Spot gold was bid at $1,430.55 an ounce at 1344 GMT, against $1,415.95 late in New York on Tuesday.

Early 3DS owners have reported software, hardware issues

Mortgage applications in the U.S. fell in the week ended March. 25, following an sharp increase in mortgage interest rates.

Acer has thrown in the gauntlet in the tablet war as it has announced that its dual-screen tablet Iconia TouchBook will be available for pre-sale in U.S.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday as merger and acquisition activity lifted sentiment before data expected to show another month of private-sector job creation.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday as merger and acquisition activity lifted sentiment before data expected to show private-sector job creation.

U.S. chemicals group DuPont extended its $6 billion takeover bid for Danisco by four weeks after holders of only 6 percent of the Danish company's shares had accepted the offer.

U.S. chemicals company DuPont extended its $6 billion takeover bid for Denmark's Danisco by four weeks and said shareholders of 6 percent of Danisco's stock had accepted the offer.

Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International said it made an unsolicited $5.7 billion bid to buy Cephalon Inc and plans to make its case directly to Cephalon shareholders.

Jefferies & Co. expects the FiberTower (NASDAQ: FTWR) deal could boost DragonWave Inc.'s (NASDAQ: DRWI) efforts to expand its non-Clearwire business.

US stocks edged modestly higher in Tuesday’s session as traders eyed Friday’s non-farm payrolls (NFP) report.

Dollar dominance is sowing the seeds of financial turmoil, and the solution is to promote new reserve currencies, a Chinese government economist said in a paper published on the eve of a G20 meeting about how to reform the global monetary system.

World stocks bounced back on Wednesday, driven by optimism about potential gains in the coming quarter and setting aside lingering concerns about Japan's nuclear crisis and turmoil in the Arab world.

Brent was steady near $115 on Wednesday, after falling as much as 0.6 percent on indications that higher fuel prices were weighing on consumer confidence in top user the United States, where crude inventories rose more than expected last week.

Russian Internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies, an investor in social network company Facebook, has joined a group of investors funding hundreds of millions of dollars to 360buy.com, China's largest online retailer, the Financial Times reported.

U.S. apparel brand Gap Inc opened an online store on China's biggest e-commerce platform Taobao on Wednesday, in an effort to lure savvy Chinese shoppers outside wealthy cities.

Australia's Qantas Airways plans to scale back some flights and cut management jobs to help offset soaring fuel prices and an estimated A$140 million ($144 million) hit to its earnings from a string of natural disasters in key markets.

The Federal Reserve will not meet an April 21 deadline for issuing a final rule cracking down on the fees banks charge merchants when a debit card is used, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a letter to U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday.