IBT Staff Reporter

BlackRock Inc , the world's largest money manager by assets, marshaled a rapidly growing list of fund styles and asset classes to post a 43 percent jump in second-quarter profit, topping expectations.

Gazing into the crowd, everything appeared to me as if it was in slow motion. I watched the reactions of the people beside me. Despite the brutality before our eyes, we could not tear ourselves away from it, and yet, faces remained blank, seemingly unaffected, and composed.

Sales of previously owned homes unexpectedly fell in June to touch a seven-month low as cancellations of pending contracts surged, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Stocks dipped on Wednesday, with technology shares falling as a blowout quarter from Apple failed to entice more buying after Wall Street's best day since March.

A search and rescue operation for three people resumed Wednesday after three witnesses said Tuesday that they were swept over the 317-foot tall Vernal Falls at Yosemite National Park. Witnesses said that a man and woman climbed over the railing in order to take pictures and slipped on wet rocks, tumbling into the Merced River.

Apple Inc shares flirted with a record $400 on Wednesday, a day after the world's most valuable technology company posted blockbuster results and triggered a spate of brokerage upgrades.

American Airlines on Wednesday split a giant order for 460 single-aisle jets worth up to $40 billion between Boeing Co and its European rival Airbus , which scrambled to win any of the narrowbody deal.

Eastman Kodak is shopping around its patents for digital imaging, responding to investor complaints that the photography company has failed to capitalize on red-hot demand for tech patents.

Sales of previously owned homes unexpectedly fell in June to touch a seven-month low as cancellations of pending contracts surged, indicating continued weakness in the housing sector.

Yahoo Inc plugged some of the holes that were weakening its Internet search business in the second quarter, but revealed new challenges that hurt its display advertising business.

U.S. stocks were flat Wednesday as investors obsessed over the debt ceiling. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 16 points, or 0.1%.

As promised Apple launched Mac OS X Lion this morning, CNET reported.

Apple Inc shares surged 6 percent in pre-market trading on Wednesday, a day after the company posted stellar results even by its own lofty standards, prompting several analysts to raise their earnings targets for the iPhone maker.

Arsenal could soon have the double boost of signing French winger Franck Ribery and getting Samir Nasri's signature with it after reports suggested that the Gunners were in advanced talks with Bayern Munich for Ribery's signing.

Dozens of police departments nationwide are gearing up to use a tech company's already controversial iris- and facial-scanning device that slides over an iPhone and helps identify a person or track criminal suspects.

Alcatel-Lucent confirmed on Wednesday that it may sell a collection of businesses that serve non-telecom operator customers as part of CEO Ben Verwaayen's ongoing turnaround plan.

Two of the top three test teams will battle it out at Lord's -- considered the home of Cricket -- as India and England commence their test series on Thursday.

Children who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder are three times more likely than other children to be bullied, said University of Florida researchers. The study also said that bullying can make OCD symptoms more profound.

Stocks were flat on Wednesday, with even a blowout quarter at Apple failing to entice investors to carry on buying the day after Wall Street's best day since March.

Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) string of outage woes continues with another outage on Tuesday.

Our subconscious leads us to draw in rock paper scissors more often than not.

BlackRock Inc , the world's largest money manager by assets, marshaled a rapidly growing list of fund styles and asset classes to post a 43 percent jump in second-quarter profit, topping expectations.

The wait for the roar is over: Apple on Wednesday morning released its long-awaited Mac OS X 10.7, codenamed Lion.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder, a body image disorder defined by obsessions and compulsions aimed at neutralizing the type of ugliness normally reserved for horror films, goes undiagnosed for an average of 15 years. The afflicted, 1 to 2 percent of the general population, are more than twice as likely as those with major depression to complete suicide.

Alzheimer's disease, a form of dementia that becomes progressively worse over time, is the second-most feared disease, said U.S. and European researches Wednesday. The most feared disease?

Sock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday as continued strong earnings, including from Apple Inc , underscored the growing sense companies were faring well despite the soft patch in the economy.

Applications for home mortgages surged last week, racking up the biggest increase in four months on a flood of refinancing demand as interest rates remained low, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Stock index futures rose on Wednesday as continued strong earnings, including from Apple Inc , underscored the growing sense companies were faring well despite the recent soft patch in the economy.

Shares in Airbus parent EADS cruised to their highest level in nearly four years on Wednesday, boosted by hopes of a big share of an airplane order set to be announced by American Airlines.