What the Fed is mulling

The Federal Reserve is expected to give a nod to signs the U.S. recession is waning but will likely warn that the recovery will be slow and dampen any expectations it will soon start to raise interest rates. Read Full Article here.

UBS, U.S. settle tax evasion case

UBS AG and the U.S. and Swiss governments have agreed to settle a dispute over whether the Swiss bank should be forced to disclose the names of 52,000 wealthy American clients suspected of tax evasion. Read Full Article here.

Starwood raises $810 mln, may be year's top IPO

Starwood Property Trust Inc priced shares for $20 on Tuesday and twice boosted the number of shares offered in what is likely to emerge as the largest U.S. initial public stock offering of the year. Read Full Article here.

Facebook Testing 'Facebook Lite'

Facebook has begun tests on a new service tailored for mobiles and narrowband internet connections. Facebook Lite appears to be a cut-down version of Facebook and is aimed at countries where broadband is limited. Read Full Article here.

Microsoft and Nokia form alliance to rival RIM

Microsoft Corp and Nokia announced an alliance on Wednesday to bring advanced business software to smartphones in a bid to counter the dominance of Research in Motion Ltd's Blackberry device. Read Full Article here.

Home prices slump a record 15.6 percent

The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday that home prices continue to drop in more than 80 percent of urban areas in a recent survey reported lower home prices than a year ago. The median price of an existing single-family home dropped to $174,100 or 15.6 percent, the most in records dating to 1979, the Association said.

Toll Brothers sees drop in homebuilding revenue

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers Inc said on Wednesday it expects to report a 42 percent drop in third-quarter homebuilding revenue, but said net signed contracts increased in the quarter. Read Full Article here.

U.S. crude supplies rise, oil futures rise

The Department of Energy said U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 2.5 million barrels on the week ending August 7, to 352 million barrels more than the 700,000 barrels forecasted by analysts, according to Reuters. Gasoline inventories declined by 1 million barrels last week and distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.8 million barrels. Oil prices surged above $70 per barrel after the report.

U.S. lists top states acting to reduce oil dependence

The Natural Resources Defense Council released a report ranking the states in the United States which have higher dependence on oil and those which take efforts to reduce oil dependence. California was listed as the most active to reduce dependence on oil while West Virginia did the least amount of effort to diminish it, according to the report.

IEA rises oil demand forecast

The International Energy Agency increased its forecast of oil demand in a report released Wednesday expecting 2009 global oil consumption to average 83.94 million barrels a day, citing better economic activity in Asia including growth in China.