IBT Staff Reporter

Despite all of the bad news in the media about homeownership and mortgages, most Americans still believe buying a home is a great investment, according to a new study commissioned by Bankrate.com.

Stocks rose on Wednesday, shaking off a slide in China's equity market, as investors responded favorably to a surprising drop in crude oil stockpiles that might suggest an improving demand outlook.

U.S. mortgage applications rose last week, largely reflecting a jump in demand for home refinancing loans as interest rates slid to a five-week low, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

Banking and financial services executives have a less than rosy outlook for their industry relative to the economy as a whole, according to a study by tax and advisory firm KPMG [KPMG.UL] released on Wednesday.

First lady, Michelle Obama, is on the spotlight again for her fashion, this time however not many people not many people are in favor of the mid-thigh shorts she chose to wear on a family holiday to the Grand Canyon.

Switzerland has agreed to reveal the names of about 4,450 wealthy American clients of UBS AG to U.S. authorities in a tax dispute settlement that pierces Swiss banking secrecy and now threatens to spill over to other banks.

Twenty-one residents of a Hong Kong child care center have fallen ill as the H1N1 virus continues to rage in the city, with 17 of them already tested positive for the disease, health officials said on Wednesday.

U.S. consumers will see on Thursday the first signs of the biggest overhaul of the credit card industry in at least two decades, as companies will be forced to provide customers with more time to pay their bills and be required to give more warning of contractual changes.

Music mogul Sean Diddy Combs wants you -- a music star of the Facebook generation. He does not want a performer who can only sing, dance, or look good on TV , but one who can do all that, and social network.

Oil surged more than 4 percent on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed a steep drop in crude imports and inventories in top consumer the United States.

You don't have to be a rabid golf fan to know that something just happened in professional golf that was unprecedented and unpredicted: Tiger Woods lost a major golf tournament after leading at the halfway point of thirty-six holes.

Gasoline pumps have been labeled as Regular, Midgrade, and Premium based on octane rating for many years, but modern gasoline formulations have many other attributes. Performance and emissions standards that govern how gasoline is made, which have varied over time and by location, affect the production cost of gasoline and its retail price.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is launching the Chase Sapphire credit card intended for wealthy households with incomes over the $120,000.

Deere & Co warned on Wednesday that it would barely break even in the current quarter and that it would cut production by as much as a third because of weak demand for construction equipment and a sharp drop in overseas orders for farm tractors.

The largest credit card lender in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced a new credit card dominated by American Express to target consumers with household incomes exceeding $120,000 per year.

Expectations for 700 million euros ($990 million) of annual savings from Volkswagen AG's (VOWG.DE) planned merger with Porsche SE (PSHG_p.DE) were

Oil surged nearly 5 percent on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed a steep drop in crude imports and inventories in top consumer the United States.

Stocks advanced on Wednesday as a strong rebound in oil prices boosted investors' confidence in the market's run-up, sending major indexes up close to 1 percent.

U.S. gold futures rose toward $950 an ounce Wednesday on the back of an oil rally and weaker dollar, even as an industry report showed that gold jewelry demand fell hard amid a global recession.

Germany could provide 4.5 billion euros ($6.35 billion) in state aid for carmaker Opel if General Motors chooses Canada's Magna, Berlin's favored suitor, as the buyer, a minister said.

Chinese human rights activist Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2005 after authorities tracked him down using data provided by Yahoo.

BHP Billiton won't accept the iron ore prices reached between Chinese steel mills and Fortescue, Local media reported on Tuesday, citing senior officials of BHP China.

BJ's Wholesale Club reported a smaller-than-expected decline in quarterly profit on Wednesday and raised its full-year profit outlook, helped by improved margins and expense controls.

Jack Henry & Associates Inc shares rose as much as 8 percent on Wednesday to their highest in more than a year, following a better-than-expected quarterly earnings and strong outlook for fiscal 2010.

Two years after the start of the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, policy-makers from around the world gather this week to think about how to prevent it from happening again.

Oil surged nearly 4 percent on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed a steep drop in crude imports and inventories in top consumer the United States.

A former Bear Stearns Cos hedge fund manager facing an insider trading charge routinely ignored warnings of potential conflicts of interest, and was rebuffed when he tried to pledge some money toward a loan to build a luxury Florida condominium, prosecutors said.

Switzerland has agreed to hand over details of about 4,450 UBS AG bank accounts to U.S. authorities to settle a tax dispute that challenged Swiss banking secrecy and now threatens to spill over to other banks.

Switzerland will hand over details of about 4,450 UBS AG bank accounts to U.S. authorities, settling a tax dispute that has threatened Swiss banking secrecy, the two governments said on Wednesday.