IBT Staff Reporter

Luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss, but said it would not give earnings outlook due to several uncertainties related to its business.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday after data showed employers chopped more than half a million jobs in May, signaling conditions remained tough.

Sony Corp unveiled on Tuesday a smaller, lighter PlayStation handled game device called the PSP Go, in a race to catch rival Nintendo in an intensely competitive mobile games arena.

(Corrects both headline and paragraph one to say quarterly loss was wider than market expectations, not narrower.)

Three Brazilian navy vessels were dispatched early Wednesday to the wreckage site of the Air France flight 447 after it crashed into the Atlantic on Sunday night after taking off from Rio de Janeiro destined to Paris.

European stocks fell on Wednesday and government bonds ticked higher after investors turned cautious after optimism about the global economy pushed world stocks to fresh 7-1/2 highs and sterling to 2009 peaks earlier.

HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Bank said on Wednesday that they were preparing for yuan-denominated bond issuance in China to help the country develop its local-currency financial markets.

U.S. car sales fell again in May, dropping 34% to 925,824 vehicles, but showed some signs of stabilization as Ford, General Motors and Toyota reported their highest monthly totals this year.

Japan should shun a politically inexplicable option of a rise in greenhouse gas emissions when it sets a 2020 target in coming days, the U.N.'s top climate change official said on Wednesday.

Luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss, but said it would not give earnings outlook due to several uncertainties related to its business.

JPMorgan Chase & Co is disbanding its stand-alone Principal Investment Management Group's hedge-fund business and private-equity division and shifting staff from this unit to sit within existing businesses, according to a person familiar with the reorganization.

Planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell for a fourth consecutive month in May, reaching the lowest level in eight months and offering another sign that the United States may be pulling out of a steep economic tailspin.

U.S. private employers chopped more than half a million jobs in May, signaling job conditions remain tough and dashing some hopes the economy was not deteriorating as rapidly as thought, a report on Wednesday showed.

A nationwide index of non-manufacturing economic activity is expected to show activity slowed in May, but less so than in April, according to economists polled by Reuters.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday, as investors were set to take profits ahead of key macroeconomic data on jobs and manufacturing.

The oil markets' seven-day rally faltered on Wednesday ahead of weekly U.S. inventory data and as investors grew more cautious ahead of the $70 a barrel mark.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday, as investors were set to book recent gains ahead of key macroeconomic data on jobs and manufacturing.

A U.S. Court of Appeals agreed on Tuesday to hear a challenge to Chrysler LLC's sale of most of its assets to a group led by Italian automaker Fiat , in a move that could potentially delay the deal.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday, as investors were poised to pocket a portion of their recent lofty gains ahead of key macroeconomic data.

European stocks fell on Wednesday and government bonds ticked higher after investors turned cautious after optimism about the global economy pushed world stocks to fresh 7-1/2 highs and sterling to 2009 peaks earlier.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday, as investors were poised to pocket a portion of their recent lofty gains ahead of key macroeconomic data.

Distrust of business has risen in the wake of the financial crisis and about half those surveyed around the world see the private sector as corrupt, watchdog Transparency International said on Wednesday.

Asian shares rose to fresh eight-month highs on Wednesday, as U.S. home sales data added to optimism that the global economy is through the worst, while the dollar struggled off its latest set of lows for the year.

Asian shares hovered close to eight-month highs on Wednesday, pausing for breath after rallying on optimism that the global economy is through the worst, while the dollar struggled near its latest set of lows for the year.

Amit Varma, one of India's most popular bloggers, once wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal, worked on a cricket website and also dabbled in advertising. Now, he's turning his writing skills to books.

Norway's Opera Software released on Wednesday the first test version of Opera 10, the newest version of its browser, promising faster downloads, new design and new features.

Verizon Communications Inc on Thursday unveiled a pay-as-you go hosting service for corporate customers looking to save money by buying only as much computing capacity as they need at any given time.

A federal judge in Texas awarded set-top box maker TiVo Inc an additional $103 million in damages plus interest on Tuesday in a long-running patent infringement dispute with DISH Network Corp and EchoStar Corp.

Spending more time on social networks and blogs? You're not alone, with the latest figures showing the number of minutes spent on social networking sites in the United States has almost doubled over the past year.