IBT Staff Reporter

Nike Inc expects its revenue to rise more than 40 percent to $27 billion by 2015, helped by demand for its namesake athletic merchandise and fast-growing brands like Converse, the company said on Wednesday.

Bear Stearns' appetite for risk and lack of foresight were criticized at a hearing into the roots of the financial crisis, where former executives argued the firm's collapse was due to events beyond their control.

U.S. stocks fell for a second day on Wednesday as Greece's sovereign debt crisis spread and Moody's Investors Service warned Portugal could be next to have its debt downgraded.

U.S. gold futures dropped to a one-week low on Wednesday as investors opted for cash to cover equities losses, but the risk of contagion spreading in the euro zone beyond Greece provided support to prices, traders said.

The big rating agencies are no longer very useful to investment companies such as the world's biggest bond fund manager PIMCO, which can be quicker to anticipate shifts in credit quality of debt, the company said on Wednesday.

Bear Stearns appetite for risk was questioned at a hearing into the roots of the financial crisis, where former executives testified that the firm's collapse was due to events beyond their control.

Copper prices dropped to seven week low here on fears China may tighten monetary policy further and cause demand to thin from the world's top consumer of many base metals.

Even as gold is set to cash in on the European economic crisis, other metals like steel and copper are set to witness a fall following the debt crisis in Greece, Spain and Portugal. The debt crisis has hit several nations in the Europe and the Euro is also struggling. This will help gold because panicked investors will rush to park their money in gold as a safe haven.

Reports from China and South Africa, two major gold producers in the world, show that gold output this year may witness a surge as several companies have ramped up their production to cash in on the rising prices and increased demand. According to Chinese media, the country produced 70.16 tonnes of gold in the first three months of 2010. This is a gain of around 4.4 per cent year-on-year. The report further added that gold mining companies in China produced 57.3 tonnes of gold in the first three...

Former Bear Stearns executives said the firm became the first major victim of the financial crisis due to unfounded rumors, not because of risky exposures to mortgage-related products with free-falling values.

U.S. private employers added 32,000 jobs in April, roughly in line with expectations, and revised data showed an unexpected rise in March jobs.

U.S. schools and childcare programs could be required to include daily exercise as part of the new National Physical Activity Plan released on Monday.

Shares in media conglomerate News Corp fell more than 9 percent in early trading on Wednesday as investors appeared to be dissatisfied with the company's full-year profit outlook.

China remains the biggest growth market for German luxury car brands, according to data released on Wednesday from Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi.

British insurer Prudential Plc fueled worries over its planned $35.5 billion acquisition of AIG's Asian unit as a last-minute regulatory delay forced it to put on ice its bumper cash call.

Demand for loans to buy U.S. homes raced to a seven-month high last week in the last hurrah for federal homebuyer tax credits that ended April 30, Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) data showed on Wednesday.

No. 1 U.S. homebuilder PulteGroup Inc posted a far narrower-than-expected quarterly loss on Wednesday due to lower land charges and said it expects to record a profit for 2010 overall.

British insurer Prudential Plc fueled worries over its planned $35.5 billion acquisition of AIG's Asian unit as a last-minute regulatory delay forced it to put on ice its bumper cash call.

No. 1 U.S. homebuilder PulteGroup Inc posted a far narrower than expected quarterly loss on Wednesday and said it expects to record a profit for 2010 overall, as the housing market pulls out of a brutal downturn.

Wall Street was set for a lower open on Wednesday as continued jitters about Greece's sovereign debt crisis and its potential to spread overshadowed data showing jobs growth in the U.S. private sector.

(Reuters) - Just one sleepless night can hamper the body's ability to use insulin to process sugar in the bloodstream, according to a study which scientists say might help explain why diabetes is on the rise.

(Reuters) - U.S. inspectors found thick dust and contaminated ingredients at the Johnson & Johnson plant that produces Children's Tylenol and dozens of other products that were recalled last week.

Time Warner Inc posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday thanks to a strong rebound in advertising sales at its cable networks and magazines as well as strong DVD sales of The Blind Side and Sherlock Holmes.

The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell more than 40 percent in April to the lowest level in nearly four years, suggesting employers are more confident about economic conditions, a report on Wednesday showed.

French bank Societe Generale pegged its exposure to Greek sovereign debt at 3 billion euros ($4 billion) for the first time on Wednesday after weeks of market fears over the debt-stricken country.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Wednesday as investors continued to anxiously eye the Greek sovereign debt crisis and its potential contagion.

Euro zone policymakers and the head of the IMF warned of looming financial contagion on Wednesday unless a euro zone debt crisis is stopped in Greece, as nervous investors fled to the safe haven of the dollar.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Wednesday as investors continued to anxiously eye the Greek sovereign debt crisis and its potential contagion.

Dr Margaret Gollagher and Associate Professor Dr Brian Nook were announced the winners of the $5000 professional development scholarships at an awards breakfast at the Art Gallery of WA this morning.