BUSINESS

Investors on Wednesday eagerly snatched up a new two-year German bond with a zero-percent coupon, meaning investors were willing to pay to loan money to Europe's strongest economy when expected inflation is factored in. The yield ended at 0.07 percent.

Shares of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social network, rose nearly 5 percent Wednesday despite continuing fallout from its May 17 initial public offering.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) shares climbed almost 2 percent in mid-day trading Wednesday, a day after Moody's Investors Service upgraded the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker's credit rating to investment grade.

Asian, European and U.S. stocks fell hard Wednesday on rising fears and uncertainty about a possible Greek exit from the euro zone as well as concerns over slowing economic growth.

The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued a contempt notice to the striking Air India pilots for not complying with its previous order restraining them from continuing with the strike.

Pakistan Imprisons Doctor Who Helped CIA Find Osama Bin Laden

Among the companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trading Wednesday are: Ares Capital Corp, Alcatel Lucent, FreightCar America, Jive Software, Dell Inc, Renren Inc, BlackRock, Alcoa and Facebook Inc.

The Swiss parliament debated Tuesday whether to create a gold-backed national coin to float in parallel with the Swiss franc, becoming the first national legislature in decades to consider issuing a currency based on a commodity.

The Indian rupee descended to the all-time-low of 56.04 per dollar Wednesday even as the Reserve Bank of India and the Indian government said that they were monitoring the situation closely and taking corrective measures.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to a lower opening Wednesday ahead of new home sales data for April and a European Union summit.

Egypt went to polls Wednesday in country's first free election for a president after weeks of intense speculation and debate. The historic presidential election, contested by Islamists and secularists, heralds the setting up of a democratic system.

Market sentiment continued to be negative as a report quoting former Greek prime minister Lucas Papademos stated that Greece was considering preparations to leave the euro zone. Greece will hold fresh elections June 17.

Asian stock markets declined Wednesday as renewed concerns of Greece's probable exit from the euro zone dampened sentiment.

Japan reported Wednesday a rise in trade deficit in April compared to a year earlier as the nuclear energy crisis has resulted in the increase of oil and gas imports.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is propping up Greece with a secret infusion of ?100 billion ($126 billion) in emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) funds, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.

The U.S. economy will likely dip into another recession in the first half of 2013 if planned tax increases and spending cuts are allowed to go into effect in January, the Congressional Budget Office said.

Pomegranate juice peddler POM Wonderful lost a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission claiming the company used deceptive advertising in claiming its juice could treat or prevent certain illnesses.

Good news out of Iran on Tuesday helped add to crude oil's price decline, already spurred by economic woes plaguing Europe.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when Thomas Langenbach, the vice president of SAP -- a top maker of business management software solutions based in Palo Alto, Calif. -- was found scanning boxes upon boxes of Lego toys before purchasing them. Little did anyone know, Langenbach was actually engaged in a giant scam.

Tesla Motors Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) shares got a big boost Tuesday following the announcement that the new Tesla Model S will begin shipping on June 22, ahead of schedule.

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) has agreed Tuesday to buy Internet commerce company Ariba Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA) for $4.3 billion, as the German business software giant looks to expand its cloud-based services and challenge rival Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq: ORCL).

Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL) reported first-quarter results that trailed analyst estimates for both income and revenue and issued a poor forecast for the current quarter

Comments regarding a rebound in the Chinese economy from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development lifted stocks earlier Tuesday and kept Asian and European bourses in the green. The comments came after Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said last weekend his government would focus more on growth than inflation.

The G8 leaders also said that it is ?our imperative to promote growth and jobs?.

Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras announced Tuesday the company has tens of billions of barrels of oil to be developed from offshore oil fields.

The second largest public pension fund said on Tuesday it plans to vote all of its Wal-Mart Stores Inc shares against the entire board in the wake of bribery allegations in Mexico that Wal-Mart officials failed to fully investigate.

Melissa Bowerman, a 41-year-old volunteer track coach in Oregon, was recently fired after she attended the school's prom with a 17-year-old male student.

Shares of Dell (Nasdaq: DELL), the No. 3 PC maker, rose nearly 2 percent Tuesday, in advance of the company?s report of first-quarter results.

The New York Times has done it again. They?ve succeeded in breaking yet another cutting-edge news story on Sunday?s front page: ?Beware, Mitt Romney is a Mormon.?