IBT Staff Reporter

Stocks fell on Wednesday as investors found little new in a major speech by President Barack Obama on how he planned to stabilize the economy, while gloomy home sales data weighed on the market. Long-standing worries about recession and the fate of the banking sector persisted despite Obama's speech to Congress on Tuesday night, sending shares of financial services companies, big manufacturers a...

Chrysler Chief Executive Bob Nardelli was meeting on Wednesday with members of the U.S. auto industry task force as officials begin to review the automaker's request for up to $5 billion in additional aid. Nardelli was joined in the meeting by Chrysler President Tom LaSorda, who heads the automaker's manufacturing operations, and Chief Financial Officer Ron Kolka, according to a person briefed ...

down over 50 percent from 2008. OFF-PRICE A TOUGH SELL At TJX, net profit fell to $250.9 million, or 58 cents a share, in the fiscal fourth quarter, ended January 31, compared with $301.1 million, or 66 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, it earned 55 cents a share, topping the average estimate of 51 cents a share. Sales were flat at $5.4 billion, showing that shoppers at even its...

Stock index futures dipped on Wednesday, as investors pondered whether the market would sustain a run-up seen in the prior session amid persistent concerns about recession and the financial sector. Late on Tuesday, in his first speech to Congress, U.S. President Barack Obama tried to reassure Americans the country would emerge stronger from the crisis but analysts said he shed little light on how...

The pace of sales of existing home in the United States fell 5.3 percent in January to a 4.49 million-unit annual rate, while home prices dropped to a six-year low and inventories shrank, the National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters were expecting home resales to rise to a 4.79 million-unit pace from the 4.74 million rate for December. The inventory of exi...

Canadian fertilizer maker Agrium Inc said on Wednesday it has offered to acquire U.S. rival CF Industries for $3.6 billion in cash and stock. The bid is conditioned on CF dropping its hostile takeover offer for U.S. rival Terra Industries , which Terra has rejected. Agrium said it has submitted a proposal to the board of directors of CF offering $72 in ca...

The pace of sales of existing home in the United States fell in January to a 4.49 million-unit annual rate while home prices and inventories dropped, the National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters were expecting home resales to rise to a 4.79 million-unit pace, from the 4.74 million rate initially reported for December, which was unchanged. The inventory of ...

Stocks added to losses on Wednesday after data showed the pace of existing home sales unexpectedly fell in January, while bank shares slid on continuing worries over the fate of the sector. The tone was set early by disappointment President Barack Obama shed little new light about how his administration would stabilize the economy in a major speech before Congress. The Dow Jones industrial avera...

Stocks fell on Wednesday on disappointment President Barack Obama provided few new clues about how his administration would shore up the economy in a major speech before Congress. Late on Tuesday Obama sought to reassure the country it would emerge stronger from the crisis but investors found little in his speech that could help the market hold onto its attempted rebound on Tuesday from 12-year l...

expects to begin doing business in the second quarter. Ambac's larger rival MBIA Inc launched its own new municipal-only bond insurer last week. Both firms are separating these businesses from the rest of their operations in order to win higher credit ratings, which are crucial to winning business. They lost their top ratings last year after a foray into guaranteeing repackaged d...

Oil rose above $40 a barrel on Wednesday, extending a 4 percent rally in the previous session, lifted by firmer equities before the release of U.S. inventory data expected to show rising supply. World stocks rose on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled nationalization of big banks was not at hand. Investors' concern of nationalization had weighed on stocks. The equit...

Chocolate eating is on the rise in the current economic slowdown, while chewing gum is suffering, according to British confectionery giant Cadbury Plc.

Car dealer Heidi Hetzer has fought chauvinism as a female mechanic and triumphed in dozens of motor rallies, but the 71-year-old Berliner says the auto crisis is proving to be the toughest test of her life.

Norwegian seismic surveyor Global Geo Services (GGS) (GGS.OL), a supplier to the oil and gas industry, said on Wednesday a U.S.-based energy firm had shown interest in its survey offshore Iran.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) reported a 27 drop in quarterly profit on Wednesday as Canada's second-largest lender more than doubled its provisions for bad loans.

The board of Telecom Italia Media (TCM.MI) is expected to consider on Thursday whether to merge its Apcom news agency with two other news agencies within a new holding company

Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish Likud party launched talks on Wednesday with right-wing parties on forming Israel's next government after he failed in initial efforts to enlist his main centrist rival in a broad coalition.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has been touring the province where the country has been preparing for a rocket launch, the North's media said on Wednesday, in what a South Korean daily said could be a precursor of a launch.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to release detained activists and said such a move would help unlock international humanitarian support.

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open for U.S. shares on Wednesday, following a surge in the previous session. At 5:30 a.m. EST, futures for the Dow Jones were flat; those for the S&P 500 were up 0.l percent and those for the Nasdaq were down 0.2 percent. Macro data due includes sales of existing homes in January. A Reuters poll suggests sales will have risen to an annual pace of 4.79 ...

Pakistan plunged toward a debilitating power struggle on Wednesday as the Supreme Court brought down a provincial government controlled by President Asif Ali Zardari's main rival, former premier Nawaz Sharif.

Indian police Wednesday charged a man they say is the lone surviving gunman in last year's Mumbai attacks with waging war against India, drawing up the first formal charges in the case, a government lawyer said.

Islamist rebels battled African Union (AU) peacekeepers and Somali police for a second day on Wednesday, taking the death toll in the worst fighting for weeks to 81, witnesses and a rights group said.

Oil held above $40 a barrel on Wednesday after a 4 percent rally in the previous session, as equities gained and investors looked ahead to U.S. inventory data expected to show rising supplies. Crude's advance on Tuesday stemmed from Wall Street gains sparked by reassuring comments from Fed Chief Ben Bernanke, while President Barack Obama said the United States would emerge stronger from the econ...

European shares turned negative in afternoon trade on Wednesday, tracking weaker U.S. markets, as investors stayed concerned that measures taken by governments to revive the economy were insufficient.

Resource-rich countries hoping oil will rebound from a $100 crash will not relinquish overnight the power that came with record prices, but relations between international firms and state-run companies have begun to thaw.

A Turkish Airlines passenger plane with 135 people aboard crashed in light fog while trying to land at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday, and an official said nine people were killed.

United Auto Workers union leaders urged members on Tuesday to approve a concessionary deal with Ford Motor Co, stepping up the pressure on General Motors Corp and Chrysler to reach similar cost-cutting labor agreements in coming weeks.

U.S. newspapers have done it. California police have too. Governments in California, New Jersey and Ohio say it will save the budget. Forcing workers to take unpaid time off is a new version of the American layoff.