IBT Staff Reporter

Stocks finished little changed on Wednesday as disappointing outlooks from healthcare companies offset strong earnings from Morgan Stanley and Apple Inc .

General Motors Co and Chrysler on Wednesday reported progress in their government-backed turnarounds, while the Obama administration still expects a loss on the taxpayer bailout of the industry although smaller than initially forecast.

Robust fixed income trading results launched Morgan Stanley to a better-than- expected first-quarter profit on Wednesday, sending its shares up.

Facebook's user base is growing at its fastest rate ever, the online social network company said on Wednesday as it rolled out features that link the company's platform more tightly with outside Web sites.

McDonald's Corp is muscling in on business from other fast-food chains and turning up the heat on coffee chain Starbucks Corp by expanding its lower-priced roster of competing drinks.

Coca-Cola Co Chief Executive Muhtar Kent sought to ease concerns by the Teamsters union that the company's acquisition of the North American operations of Coca-Cola Enterprises would result in fewer jobs.

Starbucks Corp reported a profit that topped analysts' views and boosted its 2010 profit forecast, as a healing U.S. economy brewed up an increase in customer visits and sales.

(Corrects to show rise in U.S. spending per visit was 5 percent, not 4 percent in paragraph 5)

EBay Inc forecast results for the rest of the year that fell short of Wall Street expectations, overshadowing its higher profit growth and sending its shares down nearly 6 percent.

U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday as disappointing outlooks from healthcare companies overshadowed strong earnings from Morgan Stanley and Apple Inc .

Quality of school books hit by changes Constant tweaking of maths syllabus mean textbooks are 'less coherent' than in Asia

Chrysler reported net losses of nearly $4 billion since it emerged from bankruptcy last year, but it had an operating profit in the first quarter and affirmed that it was on track to break even in 2010.

Distressed automaker General Motors Co repaid its government loans way ahead of schedule and is now on a strong path to viability, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday

Italy's Fiat is to separate its autos business from its better-performing industrial and truck businesses, and wants to achieve ambitious revenue and profitability increases across the board by 2014.

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U.S. regulators proposed to make broadband access the focus of subsidized telecommunications for the poor and rural areas, a first step in tackling an ambitious plan to provide high-speed Internet to all Americans.

Volkswagen revealed first-quarter operating profit nearly tripled, driven by a sharp gain in sales and a restock of its inventories, and reiterated it expects to improve key results in 2010.

Ford Motor Credit's $1.09 billion asset-backed securitization was launched by underwriters JPMorgan Securities, Morgan Stanley and RBS on Wednesday into strong investor demand, market sources said.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, billionaire Bill Gates and Queen Rania of Jordan will put their fame to work this week as they join a Twitter campaign to end malaria deaths.

AT&T Inc's earnings beat expectations on the back of strong iPhone sales, but questions over how much longer it would remain the exclusive U.S. carrier for Apple Inc dampened investor enthusiasm.

U.S. stocks slipped on Wednesday as disappointing outlooks from healthcare companies, including Abbott Laboratories , overshadowed stronger-than-expected earnings from Apple Inc and Morgan Stanley .

The global economy is recovering from recession more quickly than expected but rescue efforts have worsened public finances, and if not reined in, will lead to a debt explosion, the IMF said on Wednesday.

General Motors Co and Chrysler on Wednesday reported progress in their government-financed turnarounds, but the Obama administration still forecasts some loss on the taxpayer bailout of both companies.

A jump in fuel prices poses one major obstacle for the U.S. airline industry's recovery, just as major carriers are starting to feel the benefits of tighter capacity and greater travel demand.

France could become the latest country to examine whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc defrauded investors in marketing a mortgage investment product while the hedge fund that played a key role in the deal moved to head off investor concerns.

Social networking leader Facebook said on Wednesday its user base has swelled to more than 400 million and shows no sign of slowing.

A Senate committee on Wednesday approved a bill aimed at reforming the derivatives market, moving the Senate one step closer to passing sweeping regulation over the $450 trillion derivatives market.

At least 13 brokerages raised their price targets on Apple Inc , a day after its blowout quarterly results, indicating that some on Wall Street expect the stock to gain another 30 percent from already record-high levels.

A U.S. senate committee will consider whether to drop a controversial idea to ban banks from the swaps market in a debate on derivative reform on Wednesday, as efforts to toughen regulation head into the home straight.