UNITED STATES

U.S. merger advisory boutique Evercore Partners Inc reported a quarterly profit above analysts average estimate, helped by strong revenue from its advisory business, and increased its quarterly dividend by 25 percent.

U.S. stocks slipped on Wednesday as investors fretted about a lack of catalysts that would extend the current seven-month rally, especially after disappointing September new home sales data.

ConocoPhillips reported a 71 percent decline in third-quarter profit on Wednesday as weak demand for fuel hurt its refining business and oil prices fell from a year earlier, but the results exceeded Wall Street estimates.

Google Inc is adding Garmin Ltd and TomTom to its growing list of rivals as the Internet search giant weaves technology for driving directions into new versions of its smartphone software.

Big energy and engineering companies will reap most profit from a climate deal due in December, as they use their financial and intellectual clout to grab low carbon subsidies

Building materials maker Owens Corning posted a quarterly profit that beat analysts' expectations, helped by lower costs, sending its shares up as much as 6 percent.

With President Barack Obama due to visit China next month, speculation is swirling Walt Disney Co may finally be about to announce a long-awaited deal to build a theme park in Shanghai.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates called for lasting dialogue with China's military after years of on-again, off-again talks as he welcomed a top Chinese general to the Pentagon on Tuesday.

Nomura Holdings Inc is sub-scale in the United States and would consider acquisitions to catch up with rivals, one of the architects of its Lehman deal last year said on Wednesday.

The European Union has approved Novartis AG's Ilaris to treat children and adults with a rare but potentially fatal inflammatory disease, the Swiss drugmaker said on Wednesday. Novartis said in a statement the accelerated EU decision follows approvals in the United States and Switzerland.

Iran's envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency will present Tehran's position on a draft nuclear fuel deal in Vienna on Thursday, a semi-official Iranian news agency reported on Wednesday.

Corrects paragraph 3 to show output figures are year-to-date, not quarterly; deletes reference to prior quarter

Correcting annual rate of September home sales in second paragraph

Sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly tumbled in September, their first drop in six months, underscoring the hazards to an economic recovery that businesses appeared to be banking on.

The brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been getting regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing current and former U.S. officials.

Qwest Communications International Inc posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and boosted its full-year outlook as it planned more cut costs, sending its shares up 3.4 percent.

Patients with non-operable head and neck cancers should be given chemo- and radiotherapy at the same time, as it more than doubles the time they live without the disease getting worse, British scientists said on Wednesday.

New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods rose 1 percent in September, meeting Wall Street expectations, Commerce Department data showed on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday after September new home sales unexpectedly tumbled and analysts said there was little in the way of catalysts to further fuel the market's seven-month rally.

Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes unexpectedly tumbled 3.6 percent in September in their first drop since March, but the inventory of new homes available at the end of the month shrank to the smallest in 27 years, government data showed on Wednesday.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 indexes extended losses on Wednesday after data showed a surprise drop in September new homes sales, the latest sign the economic recovery may be slower than hoped.