IBT Staff Reporter

Central banks on Wednesday progressively withdrew the cash they recently injected into money markets as the focus of the global credit storm rolled into emerging markets and currencies.

Organic and natural foods grocer Whole Foods Market Inc. said late on Tuesday it is investigating the release of proprietary business information by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which it claimed violated a court confidentiality order.

Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. is in talks to buy a Ford Motor Co. financing unit in India as a way to secure an additional license to beef up what it can offer clients in that expanding market.

Retailer Macy's Inc. posted a lower quarterly profit and cut its full-year outlook on Wednesday, sending its shares down.

U.S. futures exchanges are trying to get other futures companies to step in and ease Sentinel Management Group Inc's concerns about client redemptions, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission official said on Tuesday.

U.S. consumer prices edged up in July while a measure of manufacturing activity in New York this month dipped slightly, according to data released on Wednesday that was unlikely to sway an inflation-wary Federal Reserve. While the Fed said last week that inflation was its top concern, it also acknowledged that the housing market downturn had led to tightening credit terms for some households and businesses.

Deere & Co. said on Wednesday its net earnings in the latest quarter rose a better-than-expected 23 percent, driven by strong overseas sales of tractors and other equipment.

Japan's Nikkei plumbed a 2007 low and other Asian stock markets fell as much as 6 percent on Wednesday as investors shunned risky trades amid growing credit jitters, pushing the yen to a 4 and a half month high. The nervous sentiment is set to hit Europe, where financial bookmakers are calling for falls of half a percent or more for major indexes.

Consumer appetite for digital cameras so far this year has grown twice as fast as expected, as buyers replace older models at cheaper prices, according to research firm IDC.

U.S. broadcaster CBS settled its termination dispute with fired radio shock jock Don Imus on Tuesday, a possible step toward Imus reviving his multimillion-dollar career with a rival broadcaster.

U.S. stocks skidded on Tuesday on fresh signs that global credit markets were seizing up, while a lower profit forecast from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. renewed worries about consumer spending. Wal-Mart's pessimistic outlook and subsequent news that a U.S. investment firm wants to halt redemptions delivered a one-two punch to already shaky confidence.

U.S. consumers are showing signs of lethargy and have retreated from their free-spending ways.

Citigroup Inc. could suffer as much as $1 billion of after-tax losses from credit turmoil in the third quarter, analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said on Tuesday.

Fallout from the global credit crunch spread to Canada on Tuesday with a rating agency warning of possible defaults in the C$116 billion ($109 billion) market for asset-backed commercial paper, one issuer saying it couldn't repay paper that is due, and a mortgage lender saying its profits could be hurt.

Trouble is mounting in the $2.2 trillion commercial paper market, and further deterioration could trigger problems for banks that would rival what they've suffered from the subprime crisis.

Swiss bank UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, beat forecasts with record second-quarter profits on Tuesday but warned market turmoil was likely to hit its investment banking business in the second half of the year.

British authorities said on Tuesday they were investigating two new suspected cases of foot and mouth disease, raising fears that an existing outbreak of the livestock disease may not have been contained.

The powerful head of India's ruling Congress party stood firm behind a controversial nuclear deal with the United States on Tuesday as fresh efforts were launched to convince communist allies who have rejected it.

The U.S. toy industry is under growing pressure from U.S. lawmakers and the Consumer Product Safety Commission to launch a testing program to ensure the safety of products from China, officials said on Tuesday.

The recall was due to hazards from small, powerful magnets and lead paint, sending its shares down as much as 6 percent.

Annuities are (a) a great way to make your money last as long as you do; (b) fee-laden, lousy investments pushed by greedy commission-hoarding salesmen; (c) so complicated they make your head hurt.

His entire solo catalog will be available. The Beatles have been among the highest-profile holdouts to put tunes online.

U.S. Treasuries climbed on Tuesday after several Canadian investment trusts had trouble repaying short-term loans, further evidence that a crisis that began in mortgages has led to a wider credit crunch.

Oil prices rose on Tuesday as concerns about a newly formed tropical storm in the Atlantic countered fresh troubles in credit markets.

VMware Inc. shares soared 79 percent in the software maker's trading debut early Tuesday, a start following an initial public offering that initially lived up to hopes that it could be Wall Street's hottest IPO of the year.

Comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, whose programs were once among the most viewed on YouTube, were requested by the video site to give testimony in legal proceedings as it fights a $1 billion lawsuit by Viacom Inc, according to court filings.

Microsoft Corp told the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Monday it was confident that vacant television airwaves can be used for wireless services without interfering with broadcast signals.

Nokia said 46 million batteries used in its phones could overheat and it would replace them free to consumers while negotiating with battery maker Matsushita over who would bear the costs.

India's Jindal Stainless Ltd. is at a preliminary stage of a $60 million investment for construction of a steel mill in Russia's north-western Leningrad region.