IBT Staff Reporter

High-grade credit is likely to outperform equities as pressure intensifies on governments to prop up troubled companies, a move which would increase the odds for the sort of stagnation seen in Japan in the past decade.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday unveiled the next step in his multi-pronged efforts to lift the United States out of recession Wednesday, pledging up to $275 billion to help stem a wave of home foreclosures that sparked the U.S. financial meltdown.

NEW YORK - Stocks slid on Wednesday as worries about the severity of the recession persisted, following government data that showed U.S. housing starts and building permits slid to record lows in January. News of the Obama administration's plan to stem foreclosures was met with skepticism. The Dow Jones home construction index fell nearly 6 percent. The Dow Jones industrial ave...

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co plans to cut 5,000 jobs worldwide in 2009, or 6.7 percent of its staff, after a prolonged downturn in vehicle demand led to a deeper-than-expected loss in the fourth quarter.

President Barack Obama unveiled his much-anticipated plan on Wednesday to fight the U.S. housing crisis, pledging up to $275 billion to help stem a wave of foreclosures sweeping the country.

BearingPoint Inc, provider of technology and management consulting services, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday and achieved a financial restructuring agreement with its senior secured lenders to reduce its debt and improve its capital structure.

NEW YORK - Stock index futures added to gains on Wednesday after the Obama administration released a plan aimed at stemming home foreclosures. After Tuesday's sell-off the market was already primed for a bounce, with bargain hunters on the prowl after stocks had slid to three-month lows. Advancers before the bell include financial shares and energy shares, which both were among Tuesday's wors...

NEW YORK - Stocks headed for a bounce at the open on Wednesday as investors looked to snap up beaten-down shares after Tuesday's slide to three-month lows. A speech later in the day by President Barack Obama to announce a plan to stem home foreclosures would likely offer investors more direction after government data showed U.S. housing starts and permits dropped to record lows in January. Adv...

WASHINGTON - New U.S. housing starts and permits dropped to record lows in January, data showed on Wednesday, as builders held back on construction amid an overhang of unsold houses and a slump in demand. Housing starts tumbled 16.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units, the lowest since the Commerce Department started keeping records in 1959, from December's upwardly re...

NEW YORK - NRG Energy said on Wednesday it has expended an enormous amount of time and resources considering Exelon Corp's unsolicited takeover offer and it continues to view it as inadequate. We would support a deal with Exelon at a fair price but, at this point, we have no reason to believe they are willing to offer a fair price, said NRG, in an open letter to ...

Corrects S&P 500's year-to-date drop in last paragraph to 'more than halved' from 'erased' By Ellis Mnyandu NEW YORK - Stock index futures rose on Wednesday as investors looked to snap up beaten-down shares following the prior session's slide. A speech due later in the day by U.S. President Barack Obama to announce a plan to stem home foreclosures would likely offer investors more di...

CHICAGO - Deere & Co , the world's largest maker of farm equipment, reported a sharper-than-expected drop in quarterly profit on Wednesday and slashed its forecast for full-year earnings, blaming the deepening global recession and volatile foreign exchange rates. The company said profit fell 45 percent to $203.9 million, or 48 cents a share, in the first quarter ended on January...

NEW YORK - Stock index futures rose on Wednesday as investors looked to snap up beaten-down shares following the prior session's slide. A speech due later in the day by U.S. President Barack Obama to announce a plan to stem home foreclosures would likely offer investors more direction, a day after Wall Street slid to three-month closing lows. Advancers before the bell included Citigroup Inc &l...

NEW YORK - Comcast Corp , the largest U.S. cable television provider, posted a better-than-expected fourth quarter profit as it tightened its costs but lost subscribers reflecting stiff competition with phone and satellite companies for customers. Excluding a $600 million writedown of its stake in wireless company Clearwire Corp and other one-time expenses, its quar...

Anthony Dod Mantle remembers racing through the slums of Mumbai, desperately trying to keep up with the 7-year-olds who ran ahead of him.

Global chipmakers, battling slower technology demand, are betting size matters as they pin their hopes for future growth on small and easy to carry mobile devices such as netbooks and smartphones.

The electric power industry and manufacturers say $4.5 billion in the $787-billion U.S. economic stimulus package will give a crucial boost to smart grids that will help the nation save money and electricity.

Consumers should be able to receive new coupons within weeks to help defray the cost of converter boxes for the nationwide switch to digital television signals, the federal government said on Tuesday.

Japan's Trend Micro Inc, the No 3 maker of computer security programs, introduced a new line of software on Tuesday that runs on home networking gear, protecting groups of PCs from viruses.

Uganda, expected to become an oil producer next year, could be a significant supplier in future, an official from a company working in the African nation said on Tuesday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday it will reconsider a Bush administration rule to let new coal-fired power plants open without taking climate-warming carbon emissions into account.

Petrobras' oil production in Brazil reached a monthly record in January, the company said on Tuesday, even as a global financial crisis hurt demand for commodities and knocked oil prices lower.

rose, reflecting the payouts under the long-term incentive plan. It is important that the board and I have the freedom to compensate our senior executives in a fair and reasonable way, Immelt said in the statement. GE shares rose 4 cents to $10.85 in pre-market trading, up from a $10.81 close on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Derek Caney and Steve Orlof...

Verizon Communications sees the weak economy helping sales of an on-demand computer hosting service it plans to launch this summer, an executive for the telecom service provider said on Tuesday.

Russia will supply about 50 cargoes of liquefied natural gas this year, mostly to Japan, from a new plant on the Pacific island of Sakhalin that will establish it as a major energy supplier to Asian markets.

NEW YORK - Comcast Corp , the largest U.S. cable television provider, posted a 32 percent drop in fourth quarter net profit on Wednesday, due to a writedown related to its Clearwire Corp stake and said it lost 233,000 subscribers. Net profit fell to $412 million, or 14 cents a share compared with $602 million, or 20 cents a share in the year ago quarter. The compan...

CHICAGO - Deere & Co , the world's largest maker of farm equipment, reported a sharper-than-expected drop in quarterly profit on Wednesday and slashed its forecast for full-year earnings, blaming the deepening global recession and volatile foreign exchange rates. The company said its fiscal first-quarter profit fell 45 percent to $203.9 million, or 48 cents a share, from $369.1 ...

Flagstar Bancorp Inc (FBC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), one of the largest savings and loans based in the U.S. Midwest, said MatlinPatterson Global Advisers LLC completed a $25 million investment in the company through the purchase of its shares.

Texas billionaire Allen Stanford and three of his companies were charged with massive fraud on Tuesday as federal agents swooped on his U.S. headquarters.