UNITED STATES

ConocoPhillips reported a 76 percent drop in quarterly profits on Wednesday, as oil prices fell sharply from a year ago and the U.S. oil major's refining business posted a loss as heavy fuel supplies and weak demand hurt margins.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said on Wednesday he supports exemptions for bona fide hedgers despite some broader concerns as the regulatory agency moves toward clamping down on excessive speculation in energy futures trading.

Stocks ticked toward session lows on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve's snapshot of economic conditions showed labor market weakness persisted even though the economic slowdown is moderating.

U.S. stocks slipped on Wednesday as a steep drop in U.S. durable goods orders last month underscored fears of more economic weakness, and falling commodity prices hurt shares in the energy and resources sectors.

U.S. stocks slid on Wednesday as a steep drop in U.S. durable goods orders in June fueled fears of more economic weakness and falling commodity prices hit shares in the energy and resources sectors.

Canada will not make a decision on whether to review Nortel Networks' $1.13 billion sale of wireless assets to Sweden's Ericsson until after a 21-day appeal period is complete, Canadian Industry Minister Tony Clement said on Wednesday.

The Aussie dollar appeared to be heading back below the 82 cent mark yesterday before comments from the RBA governor Stevens sparked a wild buying frenzy in afternoon trade. Speaking at a charity lunch his comments on the prospects for the local economy he said he can “imagine more upside risks to the economy to balance out downside risks”, a signal that rates are more likely to go up rather than down from here.

Mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments said on Wednesday it struck a second deal to offer brokerage customers shares of initial public offerings, this time with Deutsche Bank AG.

Big Web Ad Deal Sealed, Economy's Factories Get to Work, Oil Supply Glut

Companies that service risky residential mortgages are warning U.S. officials that a key program to slow foreclosures may push some financing costs higher and derail their efforts, said a leading subprime firm.

The United States said on Wednesday no deal had been reached so far in talks to settle a tax evasion dispute with UBS AG and it expected a trial against the Swiss bank to go ahead as scheduled on Monday.

Senior U.S. housing officials and leading mortgage companies met on Tuesday to set explicit goals for preventing evictions and helping struggling borrowers with their home loans.

Oil dropped nearly 6 percent on Wednesday to $63 a barrel after data showed a surge in U.S. crude inventories on higher imports and lower refinery activity.

Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc inked a 10-year Web search deal to better compete against market leader Google Inc but stopped short of combining their display advertising businesses.

Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co surprised markets by eking out small profits last quarter helped by cost cuts, but a sustained recovery looks some way off with demand relying largely on government stimulus.

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the United States may be starting to see the end of the 19-month recession and that his policies helped the country from plunging into a depression.

French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis raised its earnings growth goal for the year and outlined new cost savings to help it cope with the effect on profit of patent expiries on a number of its top drugs.

Sprint Nextel Corp posted a wider quarterly loss and revenue fell 10 percent as the No. 3 U.S. mobile service continued to lose valuable monthly bill-paying customers. Its shares fell more than 10 percent.

The top U.S. futures market regulator would strip liquidity needed to make the market run efficiently if it failed to allow certain traders to exceed position limits, a Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive said Wednesday.

Top Asian and European semiconductor manufacturers gave optimistic forecasts for the second half of the year as they saw demand and prices improving, but said they would continue to monitor the market closely.

Is it possible to tell how happy we all are?