IBT Staff Reporter

Greece hoped on Wednesday it could wrap up tortuous negotiations on a debt swap as early as this week when private creditors return to Athens for a fresh round of talks to avert a chaotic default.

Plane-maker Boeing Co reported a quarterly profit that topped Wall Street forecasts on stronger commercial airplane deliveries, but its 2012 earnings forecast was lower than expected.

Suppliers basked in the reflection of Apple's glowing results on Wednesday after the company's gold standard iPhones and iPads flew off the shelves over the holiday sales season.

Applications for home mortgages retreated last week, giving back some of the previous week's surge as interest rates rose, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Dow and S&P 500 index futures edged lower on Wednesday as the market continues to show signs of fatigue this week after a strong run from late last year, but the Nasdaq rose on forecast-beating results from Apple Inc .

International firms are spending more time at the highest levels discussing how to hedge currency risk, particularly euro-denominated earnings and transactions, in readiness for a worst case scenario of a euro zone breakup.

The European Commission stands by the size of euro zone taxpayers' contribution of up to 130 billion euros ($169 billion) to the second Greek bailout, a Commission spokesman said on Wednesday.

Apple Inc's quarterly results blew past Wall Street's expectations after U.S. consumers snapped up near-unprecedented numbers of iPhones and iPads, sending its shares up 8 percent into record territory.

SAP, the world's biggest maker of business software, was upbeat on its topline growth this year citing its investment in new technologies and robust corporate spending.

Ericsson, the world's biggest maker of equipment for mobile phone networks, stunned markets with a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit, adding to signs from the corporate world that economic growth may be grinding to a halt.

Japan first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years calls into question how much longer the country can rely on exports to help finance a huge public debt without having to turn to fickle foreign investors.

German business sentiment rose for the third month in a row in January, beating expectations and offering fresh evidence that Europe's largest economy is shrugging off a sovereign debt crisis that has hammered growth in other euro zone countries.

Citigroup Inc said it may make further cuts in its securities and banking unit in 2012 if revenue does not pick up meaningfully, as the prospect of more layoffs looms large over investment banks globally.

Roche Holding AG is offering $5.7 billion in cash to buy U.S. gene sequencing company Illumina Inc in an unfriendly takeover bid that marks a major play by the Swiss drugmaker into the gene technology field.

Citigroup Inc may consider further restructuring of its securities and banking unit if the business does not see meaningful revenue recovery over the course of 2012, Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach said on a conference call.

Kim Dotcom, the founder of file-sharing site Megaupload.com who faces a lengthy jail term in the United States if convicted of racketeering, money laundering and Internet piracy, seems to have a mischievous sense of humor.

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open for equities on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.2 percent, the Dow Jones futures down 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.6 percent.

SAP, the world's biggest maker of business software, aims to set a fresh profit record this year as it banks on robust corporate spending on technology.

A group of consumer advocates, academics and economists want to end too-big-to-fail banks, starting with Bank of America Corp.

Booming demand for the latest iPhone model helped Apple beat all phones using Google's Android platform in the U.S. smartphone market in the fourth quarter, data showed on Wednesday.

World No.1 mobile equipment maker Ericsson saw its profit halve in the fourth quarter as the global economic slowdown hit demand, and forecast network operators would remain cautious on spending in the months ahead.

European shares and the single currency held firm on Wednesday as investor focus switched to the broader economic outlook and some strong results from leading U.S. companies, and away from worries about the stalemate in Greek debt talks.

German group SAP, the world's biggest maker of business software, said it expected operating profit to rise as much as 11.5 percent this year, more than market expectations.

Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG offered about $5.7 billion in cash to buy U.S. gene sequencing device maker Illumina Inc , in a potentially hostile takeover bid to boost its position in life sciences and diagnostics.

Asian shares rose on Wednesday, underpinned by strong earnings from U.S. technology giant Apple, stabilizing European money markets and falling euro zone debt yields, with investors shifting their focus from Europe to the U.S. Federal Reserve.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday that combining the European Union's temporary EFSF rescue fund with its permanent ESM mechanism would help restore confidence in the flagging region and provide a solid firewall to the Greek crisis.

World No.1 mobile network gear maker Ericsson missed fourth-quarter profit forecasts, hit by lower demand from the United States and Russia, and said weak margins and cautiousness from its operator clients would continue in the short term.

A nightmare on world freight markets, where shipping prices have been decimated over the past four years, is gnawing at New Year optimism about a stabilizing world economy and shows how adept investors can be at tuning out 'inconvenient' information.

Efforts by the United States to extradite the mastermind of an alleged Internet piracy scheme from New Zealand to face copyright infringement and money laundering charges are likely to be long and complex.