NEW YORK

The Federal Reserve looks set to take a breather from monetary stimulus measures on Wednesday, even if financial market turbulence heightens the chances of action later.

MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) reported third-quarter earnings of $5.63 per share on revenues of $1.81 billion, blowing past analysts estimates that had expected the company to report earnings of 4.82 per share and revenues in the vicinity of 1.71 billion. Increased volume from international consumers played a role, as did U.S. consumers ditching debit for credit.

U.S. private employers added more jobs than expected last month, while planned layoffs dropped sharply, underscoring the view the economy is on a path of slow growth.

One of the former National Restaurant Association employees who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment wants to tell her side of the story publicly, and her lawyer is trying to waive a confidentiality agreement so that she can do so.

Journalist and biographer Robert A. Caro is coming out with another LBJ installment.

Occupy Wall Street has raised more than $500,000 in New York alone to support anti-greed demonstrations and, seven weeks into the movement, protesters are finding that having money creates headaches.

After performing better than the wider high-tech market for months, stocks in American video game manufacturers have dropped precipitously since Thursday. Is there a 1UP on the way?

Gold firmed on Wednesday, helped by safe-haven demand as the Eurozone troubles deepened and business surveys showed the severe impact the crisis had on manufacturing in the region.

Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco attended the 29th annual Princess Grace Awards Gala in New York on Tuesday, along with many Hollywood celebrities.

Vanessa Hessler is the girl with an angelic face who became a household name in France and Italy and who appeared in a short red dress across billboards for the telecommunications company Telefonica. However, after her controversial interview with Italian media, in which she defended her former boyfriend, Motassim Gadhafi and the Gadhafi family, she lost her most lucrative client.

Olympus Corp's ousted CEO Michael Woodford said on Wednesday he wants to meet a third-party panel probing past M&A deals at the endoscope maker after the head of the investigative group earlier said it would seek a hearing with him.

Both are stunning, both are Victoria's Secret Angels and both are competing with each other to be the ultimate Halloween queen.

A woman claiming to be the mother of Justin Bieber's baby has reportedly demanded the pop star take a paternity test. Twenty-year-old fan Mariah Yeater alleges that Justin Bieber is the father of her three-month-old son, according to an exclusive report released by Star magazine. Yeater signed court papers under the penalty of perjury claiming that the 17-year-old pop star had sex with her backstage at one of his concerts in Los Angeles when she was 19.

Michael (Mike the Butcher) Virtuoso, the loanshark accused of a Mafia shakedown of former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine's personal chauffeur, pleaded guilty last month to extortion in connection with a loan that had a 250 percent interest rate, the New York Daily News reported.

Actress Scarlett Johansson has addressed her nude photo scandal from earlier this year, saying there was nothing wrong with her taking the photos, in an interview with Vanity Fair on Tuesday.

Film, television and Broadway producer and director Gil Cates, who ran the show for 14 Oscar ceremonies and was an entertainment industry leader, has died at age 77.

Despite the widely criticized government loans given out to clean energy firms like Solyndra, the U.S. still has a chance to take the lead in the green sector, Jesse Jenkins reported on Forbes.com.

Nick Cannon knows more about celebrity marriages than most because he's been married to singer Mariah Carey since 2008. That's why he felt comfortable telling Global Grind what he thinks about the high profile Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries divorce

Actress Zooey Deschanel and musician Ben Gibbard separate.

School is hard enough for any American student in this age of cyber-bullying, but a new study shows that Asian American teenagers have it much worse than their peers from other ethnic backgrounds.

Although Bank of America will drop its $5 monthly fee on debit card use that was expected to begin next year, some people have called the move a day late and a dollar short.