IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stocks slipped on Wednesday as a rise in benchmark Treasury bond yields rekindled concern that higher interest rates would cut into corporate profits.

Package delivery company FedEx Corp. on Wednesday reported a profit that missed analysts' forecast and said earnings growth would fall short of expectations due to continued softness in the U.S. economy.

Yahoo Inc. said it signed agreements with six mobile operators across Asia, as part of a broad global expansion that will see its mobile services in tens of millions of phones by the end of the year.

World stocks flirted with record highs on Wednesday and the yen remained under pressure as receding expectations for rising interest rates encouraged investors to chase higher-yielding assets.

Microsoft Corp. has agreed to modify its Windows Vista operating system in response to a complaint that its computer search function put Google Inc. and other potential rivals at a disadvantage, the Justice Department and Microsoft said on Tuesday.

The global wealth management sector showed lavish growth last year, with assets under management rising 14 percent, a survey showed, but the bonanza might be over if stock markets turned.

Google Inc. has won preliminary approval from Beijing to provide Internet content in China, the firm said on Wednesday, potentially allowing it to offer news in the world's second-largest Internet market.

Nintendo Co. Ltd. shot past Panasonic maker Matsushita in market value on Wednesday and closed in on Sony Corp. as investors watched it unseat Sony as unrivalled king of the game industry.

Gold paused for breath on Wednesday after a rally the previous day, while the most active Tokyo futures contract rose to its highest in nearly two weeks on a weaker yen and gains in New York.

Buyers may not return in force until relations with the West improve and the next Kremlin leader is known.

Wall Street's push for record profits is ruining careers, tearing apart families and keeping drug dealers busy, mental health experts say.

Shares of Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) plunged on Tuesday that it said quarterly profit fell by 18 percent as sales of low-margin merchandise outpaced revenue from pricier products.

The chairman of the U.S. Senate education committee on Tuesday introduced legislation to cut government subsidies to student loan companies, but the cuts were milder than some expected and lender stocks rose.

As shares of Apple climb higher in anticipation of the iPhone device’s June 29 launch, analysts are skeptical of new battery life claims and the hype surrounding the new unit.

Oil prices eased on Tuesday, pulling back from a 10-month high posted in the previous session on concerns that a strike call in Nigeria could further cut crude output in the world's eighth-biggest oil exporter.

Google Inc. aims to cut or offset all of its greenhouse emissions by the end of the year, the Web search leader said on Tuesday .

The dollar weakened against most major currencies on Monday, tracking a slide in U.S. bond yields, while the yen fell to near 4-1/2 year lows on fading expectations of higher Japanese interest rates.

In the midst of a struggle with Internet rival Google, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG), Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) said Monday that the company’s co-founder Jerry Yang will replace Terry Semel, who is resigning as chief executive.

U.S. airlines shares rallied on Tuesday, a day after United Airlines gave a positive revenue outlook for the second quarter.

Shares of General Electric Co. surged more than 3 percent to a five-year high on Tuesday, pushing the company's market capitalization above the $400 billion mark, on a technically driven wave of buying, investors said.

U.S. Treasury debt prices rose for a third straight day on Tuesday after data showing the first drop in housing starts since January reinforced the view that the housing sector would remain a drag on the economy.

Walt Disney Co. is using a movie about a rat in the kitchen, 'Ratatouille,' as a hook to expand its its move into upscale branding

Privately held Swarmcast, which specializes in streaming video over Web connections, on Tuesday unveiled a new application to accelerate video downloads from Apple Inc.'s popular iTunes store.

Home Depot Inc. has agreed to sell its supply division to three private equity firms, sources said on Tuesday, in a deal worth more than $10 billion.

AT&T Inc. is launching a video-sharing service for its wireless customers, a step toward offering converged services of wireless, video and Internet technology, the company said on Tuesday.

The pace of U.S. home construction fell 2.1 percent in May to a slightly lower rate than analysts had expected while building permit activity, a signal of future building plans, increased more than anticipated, a government report showed on Tuesday.

Delta Air Lines Inc. is poised to start replacement of its widebody fleet, and will likely decide by the end of the year whether to go with Boeing Co.'s popular 787 Dreamliner or the Airbus A350 XWB, a top Delta executive said at the Paris Air Show.

Top U.S. consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. on Tuesday posted a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit, dragged down by sales of lower margin products such as notebook computers and video game consoles.

U.S. video rental chain Blockbuster Inc. has come out in favor of the Blu-ray DVD format disc, tipping the balance against the rival HD DVD in the battle over next-generation discs.