IBT Staff Reporter

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left interest rates near zero and renewed a promise to keep them low for an extended period, though it sounded more upbeat on the economic recovery and jobs.

Investors sent AOL Inc shares down sharply on Wednesday on lower than expected first-quarter revenue and as the company warned that advertising sales would remain under pressure through the rest of the year.

The Dow and the S&P 500 recovered after a sharp selloff on Wednesday, sparked by a credit downgrade of Spain, as investors scooped up beaten-down shares of financial companies.

Leading Kenyan mobile phone operator Safaricom plans to move to an Internet protocol network in the next two years to help lower costs and reduce outages, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

The Dow and the S&P 500 recovered after a sharp selloff on Wednesday, sparked by a credit downgrade of Spain, as investors scooped up beaten-down shares of financial companies.

Last month, EIA published its semiannual report on the possible impacts of refinery outages on gasoline and diesel fuel markets for March through June 2010. The report focuses on gasoline because U.S. gasoline consumption typically increases during these months. Historically, large gasoline price increases can occur during the spring and early summer and refinery outages have sometimes played a role in those increases. The same outage during a tight market can have a more significant effect tha...

General Electric Co believes that investment by businesses, rather than consumer spending, will drive the U.S. economy out of its worst downturn since the Great Depression, its top executive said on Wednesday.

A thorough investigation into CSL Ltd's seasonal flu vaccine that includes the H1N1 pandemic strain is now being performed by Australia's drug regulator, after the flu shots were linked with adverse reactions in children.

For a third consecutive day, the U.S. Senate will hold a procedural vote to try to take up a sweeping reform of banking rules, Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Wednesday.

Australia has been warned by a leading international cancer expert that it is on a cancer collision course, with a great increase in cancer cases predicted within the next 20 years unless action is taken to curb the obesity epidemic.

General Electric Co is returning to good, solid earnings growth and plans to raise its dividend at least by 2011, chief executive Jeff Immelt told investors on Wednesday.

The exposure to last year's swine flu outbreak may have caused children to be more susceptible to experiencing severe reactions that are now manifested through recent influenza vaccinations.

Wall Street erased most gains on Wednesday after Spain's rating was downgraded as investors awaited Federal Reserve comments at the end of a two-day policy meeting.

The number one cause of death in Australia for men under 45 is not due to road fatalities or any kind of physical disease. It is suicide and the statistics are disturbing.

Defense contractors Northrop Grumman Corp and General Dynamics posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday as segments that had been a drag on performance showed signs of improvement.

Bronwyn Collins, 21 year-old beyondblue ambassador says it's no small thing talking publicly about one's depression.

AOL Inc reported a lower first-quarter profit on declines in revenue and advertising sales as it continues to restructure as an independent company.

Web company Yahoo said services that allow consumers to find local information based on the location of their mobile phone were very interesting but would not comment on reports it may buy industry player Foursquare.

U.S. Senate Democrats sought to break a stalemate over their sweeping reform of financial regulation on Wednesday, planning a third vote in as many days as Republicans held out for a compromise bill.

Major lodging companies Wyndham Worldwide Corp and Host Hotels & Resorts Inc lifted their 2010 outlooks on Wednesday on further signs that the industry is able to command higher room rates and boost occupancy.

The international bailout of Greece is likely to total up to 120 billion euros, a German lawmaker said on Wednesday after International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn held talks in Berlin.

When protesters in Bangkok started a rally in the middle of March to force early elections, the economy was recovering well from a brief recession and the government confidently expected GDP to rise 4.5 percent in 2010.

Global wheat prices are expected to remain unchanged for the time being as the prices already touched at the bottom level, said an Industrial official. Global wheat prices are unlikely to fall further for the next three months as at present prices are close to multi-year lows, Chris Vanhonacker, Commercial Director of Rias Trading was quoted by Dow Jones Newswires.

Home buyer tax credits have been a boon to the U.S. housing market, but their expiration this week is unlikely to deter home purchasing activity as consumers grow more confident, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

Remember the impact of Reserve Bank of India's decision to buy 200 tonnes of gold from International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November 2009 had on the price of yellow metal? That time gold prices soared to new heights because the world feared that India is shifting its foreign reserves to gold expecting the dollar to crash.

U.S. mortgage applications fell last week as a drop in home refinancing volume outweighed the highest demand for home purchase loans in six months, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

Dow Chemical Co posted a much better-than-expected first-quarter profit on Wednesday as higher pricing and volume pushed revenue up around the globe, and its shares rose nearly 3 percent.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday resumed a two-day meeting where it is expected to repeat a vow to keep interest rates at rock bottom levels for an extended period while acknowledging the U.S. economic recovery is getting stronger.

Sprint Nextel , the No. 3 US mobile service, posted a quarterly loss that was in line with expectations as customer losses slowed from the same quarter the year before.