IBT Staff Reporter

The Federal Reserve, in a move that could push back expectations of when near-zero U.S. interest rates will rise, will begin publishing its policymakers' forecasts for borrowing costs.

Stock index futures fell on Wednesday after a sharp market rally in the previous session, as investors focused again on Europe's debt problems.

The PIMCO Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund, had $1.4 billion in outflows in December, according to fund analytics firm Morningstar.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Wednesday after a sharp market rally in the previous session, as investors focused again on Europe's debt problems.

Exxon Mobil is in talks to sell most of its 50 percent stake in TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK <5012.T> back to its Japanese refining partner and unload other assets in Japan in a deal that could be worth as much as $5 billion, four sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Euro zone inflation eased from last year's peaks of 3.0 percent in December, the first sign of a fall in price growth this year that analysts expect will create room for more interest rate cuts to help the weakening economy.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Wednesday after a sharp market rally in the previous session, as investors focused again on Europe's debt problems.

Demand for loans to buy homes and refinance mortgages slid in the final week of 2011, even as mortgage rates dipped, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Stock index futures fell on Wednesday after a sharp market rally in the previous session, as investors focused again on Europe's debt problems.

Eurozone inflation slowed in December as expected, data showed on Wednesday, underlining market expectations that price growth will decelerate further in the first months of 2012 and create room for more interest rate cuts to help the weakening economy.

Yahoo is poised to name PayPal President Scott Thompson as chief executive after firing former CEO Carol Bartz in September, Web site AllThingsD reported, citing sources close to the situation.

Nerves ahead of a German debt auction helped put European stock markets in negative territory early on Wednesday and halted a surge for the euro after its biggest one-day gain in nearly two months.

Asian stocks rose on Wednesday as investor risk appetite returned after upbeat U.S. and European economic data improved the global growth outlook, but the euro's gains were short-lived due to deep-set worries over the European debt crisis.

Rick Perry will return to Texas to reassess his campaign in light of a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, he announced near midnight on Tuesday.

Small businesses created 55,000 jobs in December and increased working hours for employees, further evidence the labor market was strengthening.

An Ecuadorean appeals court on Tuesday upheld a ruling that Chevron Corp should pay $18 billion in damages to plaintiffs who accused the U.S. oil giant of polluting the Amazon jungle and damaging their health.

Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of memory chips and smartphones, is set to report a robust quarterly profit rise on Friday, starting 2012 on an upbeat note aided by record-smashing sales of smartphones.

Twitter, the popular microblogging site, apologized on Tuesday for incorrectly verifying a false account for Wendi Deng, the wife of News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch.

Business software maker Progress Software Corp forecast first-quarter earnings below analyst expectations, as some of its customers continue to delay investments amid macroeconomic uncertainties, sending its shares down as much as 9 percent in trading after the bell.

Prosecutors accused three Swiss bankers on Tuesday of conspiring with wealthy U.S. taxpayers to hide more than $1.2 billion in assets from tax authorities, and sources briefed on the matter said the three worked for Wegelin & Co, one of Switzerland's oldest private banks.

National Instruments forecast fourth-quarter revenue below analysts' estimates hurt by a slowdown in the European industrial sector, sending its shares down 5 percent after market.

Acme Packet Inc forecast a fourth quarter that lagged analysts' estimates and cut its 2011 outlook on concerns of crippled capital spending budgets at its telecommunication customers in North America.

Shares of Elpida Memory rose more than 7 percent in early trade on Wednesday after the Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes said the troubled chipmaker may merge with Toshiba.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Rick Santorum is in first place and Mitt Romney in second -- but just 37 votes separate them. Ron Paul is in third place by just under 4,000 votes, and everyone else trails by large margins.

The Chinese government is planning new policies to boost domestic consumption, especially of vehicles and appliances, in a bid to offset the effects of sagging export demand, the China Daily reported on Wednesday, quoting a government official.

To kick sales of its ultra-low-cost Nano into higher gear, Tata Motors needs a lot more buyers like Vijay Govind Pisal, a sugar cane farmer in Ozarde in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

AT&T Inc has agreed to pay TiVo Inc a minimum of $215 million and additional monthly licensing fees to settle a patent infringement dispute related to recording live TV.

A New York state judge made it easier for the bond insurer MBIA Inc to pursue its $1.4 billion lawsuit accusing Bank of America Corp's Countrywide Financial unit of fraudulently inducing it to insure risky mortgage-backed securities.

U.S. prosecutors accused three Swiss bankers on Tuesday of conspiring with wealthy U.S. taxpayers to hide more than $1.2 billion in assets from tax authorities, and sources briefed on the matter said the three worked for Wegelin & Co, one of Switzerland's oldest private banks.