IBT Staff Reporter

The world's top two steelmakers and leading carmakers said on Wednesday any return to growth would be gradual, casting doubt over some economists' forecasts for a recovery starting later this year.

China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co Ltd, part-owned by the Carlyle Group, has hired China International Capital Corp (CICC) and three other investment banks to arrange its Hong Kong initial public offering, two people with direct knowledge of the situation said on Wednesday.

China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co Ltd, part-owned by the Carlyle Group, has hired China International Capital Corp (CICC) and three other investment banks to arrange its Hong Kong initial public offering, two people with direct knowledge of the situation said on Wednesday.

Pregnant women infected with the new H1N1 swine flu have a much higher risk of severe illness and death, U.S. government researchers said on Wednesday, confirming a trend that has worried global health experts.

Timken Co, which makes industrial bearings and specialty steel, said it agreed to sell its needle roller bearings business to Japanese autoparts maker Jtekt Corp for about $300 million.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to reveal on Wednesday the Obama administration's domestic policies to prevent terrorist attacks, the Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday.

French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis has agreed to buy the stake it does not already own in the Merial animal healthcare business from its U.S. partner Merck & Co, Bloomberg News said on Wednesday.

Police in the Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan, a focus of Russian-U.S. rivalry, detained dozens of opposition activists Wednesday after they staged two marches in protest at last week's presidential election.

Spain's biggest bank Santander followed the trend for extra bad loan provisions against the continuing economic slump, lifting its bad debt cushion in the first half and warning the setaside could hit 10 billion euros by end-2009.

One of the most powerful godfathers of the Russian mafia has been seriously wounded by a sniper in central Moscow, investigators said on Wednesday.

Nearly 10,000 Uighurs involved in deadly riots in China's northwestern Xinjiang region went missing in one night, exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer said Wednesday, calling for an international investigation.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday urged Iraq's ethnic Kurds and majority Arabs to resolve their entrenched dispute over oil and land before a scheduled American troop withdrawal by 2012.

Sprint Nextel Corp , the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, posted a wider quarterly loss as it continued to lose valuable postpaid monthly bill-paying customers, sending its shares down more than 6 percent.

Stocks opened lower on Wednesday as a larger-than-expected 2.5 percent drop in June new orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods revived worries that the economic recovery might be weak.

Stocks opened lower on Wednesday as a larger-than-expected 2.5 percent drop in June new orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods revived worries that the economic recovery might be weak.

ConocoPhillips’ second quarter earnings fell 76 percent on lower commodity prices and margins, the company said today.

Sprint Nextel Corp posted a wider quarterly loss on Wednesday but fewer customers defected from the No 3 U.S. mobile service, which started selling Palm Inc's popular Pre phone during the quarter.

Microsoft Yahoo shares watch, Energy markets hearings, Oil inventories

Stocks headed for a lower open on Wednesday as a larger-than-expected 2.5 percent drop in June new orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods revived worries that the economic recovery might be weak.

Daimler expects a gradual improvement in the group's operating profitability in the course of this year, it said on Wednesday, after it beat expectations for an even worse second-quarter operating loss.

Time Warner Inc's quarterly revenue fell a steeper-than-expected 9 percent due to a slump in advertising spending and DVD sales, but cost cuts helped profit beat Wall Street forecasts.

Health insurer WellPoint Inc posted a 7.6 percent drop in net income on Wednesday, but the results topped analysts' forecasts as its programs for the elderly improved their performance.

Rich nations must agree to large, measurable cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions, if the world is to set a framework to tackle global warming at U.N.-led talks in December, a senior Chinese official said on Wednesday.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will hold the second of three days of hearings to Discuss Energy Position Limits and Hedge Exemptions. The U.S. Energy Department will release its weekly petroleum supply report at 10:30 a.m. EST.

Bernard Madoff, the financier convicted for Wall Street's biggest investment fraud, was surprised his $65 billion Ponzi scheme was not uncovered sooner, he said in his first interview since entering prison.

Time Warner Inc's quarterly revenue fell a steeper-than-expected 9 percent due to a slump in advertising spending and DVD sales, but cost cuts helped profit beat Wall Street forecasts.

Chevron Corp's proposed Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project needs to meet more stringent environmental conditions before it can obtain final approval from the Australian government.

Japanese car manufacturers unexpectedly posted profits on Wednesday and Mercedes-maker Daimler forecast improving performance this year but clear sings of sustained recovery for the world's battered auto sector remained elusive.

Stock index futures fell on Wednesday as a drop in commodity prices looked set to weigh on shares of natural resource companies and investors digested the impact of an overnight sell-off in Chinese stocks.