IBT Staff Reporter

A plan by top U.S. banks to set up a fund preventing the forced sale of billions of dollars of hard-to-value securities faces some serious obstacles. Any forced selling could set off a chain reaction, ultimately slowing economic growth in the United States and Europe.

Price comparison sites risk misleading consumers and should be governed by a code of practice, an independent body says. It would aim to ensure that such services display up-to-date information, disclose how much of the market they cover and are transparent in the commercial relationships they have with product providers.

Intel Corp shares rose 4.3 percent on Wednesday as its better-than-expected quarterly report helped boost other microchip shares, even as fellow technology heavyweight International Business Machines Corp posted lower hardware sales.

Pop star Madonna has dropped her long-term music label Warner Brothers and signed a multi-album, touring and merchandising global partnership with Live Nation Inc., the concert touring company said on Tuesday.

EBay Inc customers who park extra cash in a nearly $1 billion PayPal money market fund are exposed to the same type of assets targeted for an emergency bailout by the largest U.S. banks, regulatory filings show.

A bipartisan bill that would let victims of identity theft seek restitution for money and time they spent repairing their credit history was introduced on Tuesday in the Senate.

Sprint Nextel Corp plans to sell a touch-screen phone from Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp this holiday season, hoping to help stem customer losses to Apple Inc's iPhone, which is only available from AT&T Inc.

Apple Inc said on Tuesday the newest version of its Macintosh operating system would go on sale on October 26, hitting the market after a four-month delay due to the company's work on the iPhone.

A new research centre -- dubbed the restaurant of the future -- at the Dutch university of Wageningen hopes to help answer these questions and more by tracking diners with dozens of unobtrusive cameras and monitoring their eating habits.

Japanese carmakers will be casting a wide net at the Tokyo Motor Show next week as they try to lure consumers back to the sputtering home market, with showpieces ranging from cute, bubbly concepts to pure, mean muscle machines.

Having angered Queen Elizabeth and the public, Britain's BBC is set to shed staff with sweeping job cuts this week in the biggest crisis to hit the world-renowned broadcaster since a government clash over Iraq.

The U.S. local food movement -- which used to be elite, expensive and mostly coastal -- has gone mainstream, with a boost from environmentalists who reckon that eating what grows nearby cuts down on global warming.

Altria Group Inc, parent of the Philip Morris tobacco companies, posted quarterly profit that beat Wall Street estimates, helped by higher prices in the United States and the weaker dollar.

With the stock near its all-time high, any mistake from the iPod, iPhone and Mac maker could give investors an excuse to cash out.

A pickup in energy prices helped drive consumer prices ahead at the sharpest rate in four months during September, according to a government report on Wednesday that was likely to keep the Federal Reserve wary about inflation.

Residential Capital LLC, the home-lending arm of GMAC Financial Services, will announce that it is cutting its work force by about 25 percent today, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Mortgage applications rose for a second straight week, largely reflecting a rise in demand for home purchase loans as interest rates held steady, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Home construction starts and permits for future building hit their lowest level in more than 14 years in September, the government said on Wednesday in a report showing how heavily the battered housing sector is weighing on the economy.

Two out of three Americans expect home prices to stay the same or drop in the next year, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday that suggests the battered housing market has further to fall.

JPMorgan Chase & Co Inc said on Wednesday third-quarter net income rose 2.3 percent despite $1.64 billion in write-downs on leveraged loans and collateralized debt obligations.

Coca-Cola Co said on Wednesday that its quarterly net profit rose a better-than-expected 13 percent, helped by strong sales of noncarbonated drinks and the weak dollar.

Turkey's parliament was poised on Wednesday to grant its army permission to enter northern Iraq to crush Kurdish separatist rebels based there, but Iraqi leaders stepped up a diplomatic offensive to avert any attack.

Former Vice President Al Gore has ruled out joining the U.S. presidential race after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his work fighting climate change.

Stock futures rose on Wednesday as a rush of stronger-than-expected profits from such blue chips as Intel, United Technologies and JPMorgan Chase reassured investors about the earnings outlook.

The yen retreated from early gains on Wednesday and higher yielding currencies recovered as rising stocks signaled a slight return to risk appetite, prompting investors to move back into the carry trade.

Oil prices dipped on Wednesday as traders took profits from the previous session's rally to a new record high above $88 a barrel.

Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines Inc announced plans on Wednesday to team up on routes linking major U.S. cities and London's Heathrow airport in a challenge to rival British Airways Plc. The joint venture aims to take advantage of the Open Skies pact set to liberalize transatlantic rules next year, and will be implemented in April 2008.

Intel Corp posted a 43 percent rise in quarterly profit on Tuesday and raised its revenue forecast to above Wall Street expectations, sending its shares up 4 percent.

Yahoo Inc posted a slight drop in quarterly net profits on Tuesday due to weak spending from corporate advertisers, while investors waited for a signal on the company's next moves after a 100-day strategic review. Yang vowed in July that there were no sacred cows in the company's operations, and investors were expecting details of the company's review findings during a conference call later on Tuesday.