UNITED STATES

Cisco Systems Inc's quarterly revenue edged past Wall Street's expectations in a sign that IT spending held up despite warnings of a severe pullback, buoying its shares in extended trading.

In what is turning out to a highly volatile week, U.S. stocks plunged on Wednesday on a vicious late-session sell-off.

NATO forces killed the Taliban insurgents who shot down a Chinook helicopter on Saturday, which resulted in the death of 38 Afghan and American troops, to inlcude 22 SEAL Team 6 members. The commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan said coalition forces used a precision airstrike to kill the insurgents involved in the Aug. 6 downing of the helicopter.

California's latest monthly revenue report shows revenue weaker than expected even before the stock market, a key source of revenue for the state, began sliding in response to Standard & Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt, anxiety about Europe's finances and the risk of the U.S. economy slipping back into recession.

Crude oil historically trades at about 8 times the price of natural gas. Currently, it's trading at about 20 times natural gas. Is oil overpriced, natural gas underpriced, or is it a combination?

The Treasury Department may be playing undertaker to the underwriter.

Gold and silver prices settled higher Wednesday as investors extended their retreat from stocks and bid up the precious metals on fears that France's sovereign debt would be the next nation's credit to be downgraded.

Cisco Systems Inc's quarterly results edged past Wall Street's scaled-back expectations as IT spending held up despite fears of a severe pullback, buoying its shares in extended trading.

Cisco Systems Inc's quarterly results edged past Wall Street's scaled-back expectations as IT spending held up despite fears of a severe pullback, buoying its shares in extended trading.

New blood test can determine the gender of a fetus at seven weeks

Apple has become the most valuable company in the U.S., passing Exxon Mobil. Here's five reasons why.

Cisco Systems said earnings beat estimates but revenue pace will stay slow

These two iconic corporations are going in decidedly different directions.

China released its first aircraft carrier, called the Varyag, on Wednesday morning local time for a sea trial.

Nokia has decided to suspend sales of products running on its Symbian operating system in order to make way for a new Microsoft partnership.

The U.S. Government posted a less-than-expected July budget deficit of $129.4 billion, but given reeling U.S. and global stock markets, the pressure will be on Congress's new "super committee" to achieve greater than the $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction target called for in the second half of the U.S. debt deal.

Tech stocks didn't fall as sharply as the overall market.

Boy or Girl? New technology can tell pregnant women whether they're having a boy or girl as early as seven weeks into a pregnancy, according to a study in the Wednesday issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.

Moving to bolster private spaceflight in the post-shuttle era, NASA handed out a combined $10 million to seven firms vying to build commercial spaceships.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker quietly signed a redistricting bill that could shore up fellow Republicans.

A congresswoman on Wednesday requested more information on security company McAfee's report detailing a five-year hacking campaign that breached 72 organizations globally.