MARKETS / FINANCE

Don't give up on the Apple iPhone 5 release date yet -- not even close. Most everything happened according to plan and qualified reports at Apple's Let's talk iPhone event on Tuesday. The company unveiled its hot new Assistant voice interaction smart system. The company unveiled what was widely expected in the new iPhone 4S. It has tiered lower pricing, more memory and much more.

Inspectors from the IMF, EU and the European Central Bank are likely to recommend releasing a vital tranche of aid to Greece but Athens must first do more to convince them it can implement reforms, a senior official from the troika said on Wednesday.

Private sector business activity shrank in the euro zone for the first time in two years last month as new orders dried up, stoking fears that the economy could be heading back into recession, surveys showed on Wednesday.

U.S. private-sector employers added more jobs than expected in September, but another report Wednesday showed a jump in planned layoffs in the month.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a modestly higher open on Wednesday after European finance ministers appeared ready to prop up struggling banks and a report on the U.S. labor market came in better than expected.

Brigus Gold Corp. said Wednesday that an independent analysis of its northern Saskatchewan project indicates a net present value of $144.3 million assuming a gold price of $1,250.

Guyana Goldfields Inc. said Wednesday it signed a stability agreement with Guyana to develop its Aurora Gold Project.

The private sector added 91,000 jobs in September, ADP said -- a total above the consensus estimate of 90,000, but still not large enough to indicate that employers have started hiring en masse.

Klondex Mines Ltd. said Wednesday it has drawn $5 million from a $20 million gold-backed debt facility to fund continued exploration and development at its 100 percent-owned Fire Creek gold property in the Battle Mountain-Eureka Trend of northern Nevada.

Private sector business activity shrank in the euro zone for the first time in two years last month as new orders dried up, stoking fears that the economy could be heading back into recession, surveys showed on Wednesday.

Industrial commodity prices ended several days of losses on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would take measures to prevent the economy from sliding into recession, although copper and crude oil held near multi-month lows.

Stock index futures were higher on Wednesday but more volatility was seen as investors awaited data on the labor market and services sector and European finance ministers appeared ready to prop up struggling banks.

Gold prices hovered in a tight range Wednesday as strong physical buying offset renewed optimism among stock investors that Europe might yet avert a sovereign debt-induced recession.

Canada's North American Palladium said it plans to expand its flagship mine in Northern Ontario and expects capital expenditure for the first phase of the project to be around $75 million.

European shares and commodity prices bounced on Wednesday after finance ministers agreed to safeguard banks from the spreading sovereign debt crisis, though the euro hovered near a nine-month low against the dollar.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has plummeted in the polls since conservatives discovered he was not 100 percent ideologically pure. But it is impossible to govern while maintaining a perfect conservative or liberal record.

Gold fell more than 1 percent on Wednesday, extending the previous day's hefty losses, as rising equities diverted some interest from the precious metal, and as investors remained wary of buying into the market after its recent sharp volatility.

Airliners were grounded, trains halted and tax offices shut on Wednesday as Greek state workers walked off the job to protest against austerity, defying a plea by the government to rally behind its effort to fend off national bankruptcy.

European stock index futures rose on Wednesday, despite skepticism among investors about whether European leaders are going far enough in their efforts to fix the region's sovereign debt crisis that prompted Asian stocks to trim earlier gains.

Yahoo Inc's long-time advisers Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Allen & Co are preparing to give potential buyers financial information, in a sign the troubled Internet giant is ready to put itself on the block, sources close to the situation said.

Europe is likely already in a mild recession, and the United States could very well join it, but the global economic turmoil is unlikely to reach the depths of the 2008 downturn, Morgan Stanley's Stephen Roach said on Tuesday.

United States prosecutors said on Tuesday they had won three major cases against American clients of questionable tax shelters including ones used by a Dallas billionaire and Wells Fargo Co. and others designed by Citibank and accounting firm KPMG LLP.

Asian stocks rebounded from steep losses over the past several sessions on Wednesday, after tentative signs that European leaders are stepping up their efforts to stop the region's sovereign debt woes from sparking a full-blown banking crisis.

Chipmaker Intel Corp has agreed to acquire mobile navigation software maker Telmap, the chief executive of the Israel-based company said on Sunday.

Asian stocks trimmed earlier gains Wednesday as investors remained skeptical about whether European leaders are going far enough their efforts to stop the region's sovereign debt woes from sparking a full-blown banking crisis.

Bank of New York Mellon was sued on Tuesday by New York federal and state prosecutors who accused the bank of cheating clients in foreign exchange transactions.

Over a 10-year period, Bank of New York Mellon defrauded thousands of clients in foreign currency exchange transactions, earning it $2 billion, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

France and Belgium rushed to the aid of Dexia SA on Tuesday, in what will be the first state rescue of a European bank in the euro zone sovereign debt crisis.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is not concerned by the sharp drop in Bank of America Corp shares in the last couple of days, despite his $5 billion investment in the company last month, he told Reuters on Tuesday.