UNITED STATES

An investor consortium led by U.S. buyout giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co announced on Wednesday that it poured a combined $160 million into a Chinese financial leasing firm to help it expand business.

Moscow and Washington must agree on where the threats to their security come from before plans to cooperate on missile defense can progress, Russia's negotiator said.

It may have looked like a done deal for President Hamid Karzai and many Afghans when, one by one, key ethnic chiefs and regional power brokers threw their weight behind the incumbent ahead of the August 20 presidential election.

Rallying commodity markets are adding to profits of Wall Street houses like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, and banks are ramping up commodity desks again, a year after the recession cut into operations.

Britain will raise troop numbers in Afghanistan to 9,500, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday, an increase of 500, providing key conditions were met.

Sales at U.S. retailers fell in September, but rose excluding motor vehicles for a second straight month in September, raising cautious optimism consumer spending could support the economic recovery.

Stock futures pointed to a rise of more than 1 percent at the open on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co posted a surge in profit following stronger numbers from Intel Corp a day earlier.

Mexican auto production rose in September on a monthly basis for a third consecutive month, suggesting the sector is pulling out of a deep slump.

North Korea's neighbors and the United States are coordinating closely to draw the isolated state back to nuclear disarmament talks and reviewing possible next steps, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday.

General Motors Co aims to grow faster than China's auto market in 2010, its China chief said on Wednesday, after outperforming the country's overall market in the first three quarters.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ends her visit to Russia on Wednesday with a charm offensive to win public support for Washington's efforts to reset relations but no clear breakthroughs from formal talks.

Ford Motor Co is expanding its largest ever recall -- involving faulty cruise control deactivation switches that have caused fires -- by 4.5 million vehicles, regulators and company officials said on Tuesday.

After a year most investors would like to forget, foreign real estate buyers are being swayed to spend again in New York City by a weak U.S. dollar and property prices at levels not seen for years, say experts.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a rise of more than 1 percent at the open on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) posted a surge in profit following stronger numbers from Intel Corp (INTC.O) a day earlier.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group's chief executive said the worst of the industry's problems were behind it, and dealflow and IPO opportunities were opening up again.

Stock futures pointed to a rise of more than 1 percent at the open on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co posted a surge in profit following stronger numbers from Intel Corp a day earlier.

After a slow start, the volume of bids on LoanMarket more than quadrupled in August, he said, adding the stabilization of the housing market and the economy may have played a part as well as the discounts available from banks and funds that need to unload underwater investments.

Avid golfer Bob Cano came to the Arizona sunbelt to buy his dream getaway property and ended up picking up three more distressed homes as prices fell to half of 2006 levels.

Oil surged for a fifth day on Wednesday to a 2009 high above $75 a barrel, boosted by a weak dollar and optimism about a global economic rebound that will lead to higher energy demand.

U.S. mortgage applications dipped last week as interest rates on 30-year loans rose above 5 percent, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

After a year most investors would like to forget, foreign real estate buyers are being swayed to spend again in New York City by a weak U.S. dollar and property prices at levels not seen for years, say experts.