UNITED STATES

Oil broke through $56 a barrel on Wednesday, bouncing up from early trade around $54 after separate U.S. data releases showed private sector job losses had slowed in April and crude inventories rose only slightly.

The Nasdaq fell on Wednesday, weighed down by profit taking in shares of bellwether names, including Apple, but the Dow and S&P 500 were near breakeven, helped by reassuring news on the labor market and Walt Disney Co's better-than-expected profit.

A Texas woman with the new H1N1 flu died earlier this week, state health officials said, the second death outside of Mexico, where the epidemic appeared to be waning.

Ford Motor Co on Wednesday unveiled a $550 million investment to convert an SUV plant near Detroit to build a new generation of Focus small cars next year and a battery-electric Focus in 2011.

A Texan with H1N1 flu died earlier this week, state officials said, only the second death outside Mexico where the epidemic appeared to be waning.

Pakistani security forces attacked Taliban fighters on Wednesday killing at least 64 of them, the military said, after the United States called on the government to show its commitment to fighting militancy.

The Nasdaq turned negative on Wednesday as investors rotated bets out of technology companies and into financials. The KBW Bank index jumped 7 percent.

A truck bomb killed 10 people and wounded 37 others when it exploded early on Wednesday morning in a wholesale vegetable market in southern Baghdad, police said.

NATO began military exercises in Georgia on Wednesday in a move Russia said threatened stability in the region just nine months after a war between the former Soviet neighbors.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved bidding procedures for the rapid sale of most of bankrupt vehicle maker Chrysler's assets.

China said on Wednesday it was concerned after a standoff in the Yellow Sea between a U.S. Navy surveillance ship and two Chinese fishing vessels, accusing the U.S. vessel of contravening international laws.

U.S. President Barack Obama will urge the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan to put aside a history of mistrust and join Washington in an alliance against Islamic extremists at a White House meeting on Wednesday, senior administration officials said.

Regulators have told Bank of America Corp it needs $34 billion of capital to withstand a deep economic downturn, an industry source familiar with results of a government stress test said late on Tuesday.

U.S. private-sector job losses slowed much more than expected in April, hitting their lowest since November last year, according to a report by ADP Employer Services on Wednesday.

Oil rose more than $1 and broke above $55 a barrel on Wednesday, bouncing up from moribund early trade around $54 after data showed U.S. private sector job losses had slowed in April.

By now, most smart money has typically pegged the US recovery in late 09, early 2010.

Wall Street was poised for a higher open on Wednesday as encouraging signs about the job market offset renewed concern about the health of banks after a source told Reuters stress tests show Bank of America has a $34 billion capital shortfall.

Retailers, seeking to cut costs in the economic downturn, need to continue investing in environmental sustainability if they want to retain customers, according to a report published on Wednesday.

U.S. private sector job losses slowed in April, according to a report by ADP Employer Services on Wednesday, hitting their lowest since November last year and surprising economists who had expected a much worse result.

Bank of America needs $34 billion in extra cash, a source familiar with U.S. government stress tests on leading banks told Reuters, unsettling markets and stoking talk of a possible asset sale in China.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 share indexes were down 0.2-0.4 percent at 5:02 a.m. EDT, pointing to a lower start on Wall Street.