MARKETS / FINANCE

Stocks slipped on Wednesday, weighted by a downgrade of 22 banks by Standard and Poor's and a disappointing earnings outlook from economic bellwether FedEx Corp .

Oil fell below $70 a barrel on Wednesday after a U.S. government report showed a surprise increase in gasoline supplies in the world's top consumer, but a drop in crude stocks limited losses.

Stocks slipped to session lows mid-morning on Wednesday, weighed down by bank shares after Standard and Poor's cut ratings and outlooks on 22 U.S. banks and after a disappointing earnings forecast from bellwether FedEx Corp .

Oil fell below $70 a barrel on Wednesday, pressured by weaker stock markets, as investors awaited a U.S. inventory report expected to show supplies declined in the world's top consumer.

President Barack Obama will lay out on Wednesday his vision for reshaping U.S. financial regulation, aiming to tighten oversight of the largest firms whose excessive risk-taking triggered a global recession.

U.S. consumer prices edged up in May on higher gasoline prices, but fell over the past 12 months by the most since 1950, in a sign that inflation was no threat for now as the country fights a brutal recession.

Stock index futures pointed to a flat to lower open on Wednesday as key data for May tempered inflation concerns but was offset by a disappointing earnings outlook from package delivery company FedEx Corp .

U.S. consumer prices rose at a slower-than-expected pace in May despite higher gasoline costs, and fell over the past 12 months by the most since 1950, according to government data on Wednesday.

U.S. mortgage applications fell for a fourth consecutive week, with overall demand plunging to its lowest level in nearly seven months, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

The U.S. economy will not recover until the end of this year, and even then growth will remain meek and vulnerable to higher interest rates and commodity prices, economist Nouriel Roubini said on Tuesday.

New U.S. housing starts and permits surged in May from record lows, while wholesale prices were muted despite higher gasoline costs, indicating the economy was moving closer to the end of a deep recession.

The local market was caught by surprise yesterday following the release of the minutes to this month's Australian Reserve Bank meeting.

S&P 500 stock index futures fell and Dow futures turned negative on Wednesday after package delivery company FedEx Corp forecast an extremely difficult operating environment for the first two quarters of its fiscal year.

U.S. mortgage applications fell for a fourth consecutive week, with overall demand plunging to its lowest level in nearly seven months, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

Stock index futures were little changed on Wednesday as caution prevailed ahead of key inflation data for May and quarterly results from package delivery company FedEx Corp that may shed light on the strength of the economic recovery.

Stock index futures were little changed on Wednesday as caution prevailed ahead of key inflation data for May and quarterly results from package delivery company FedEx Corp that may shed light on the strength of the economic recovery.

Morgan Stanley is planning more changes in its prime-brokerage division to get back some of its hedge-fund clients that left the company last year, the Wall Street Journal said.

Most stocks in Asia edged lower on Wednesday, weighed down by resource-related shares and doubts about a global economic recovery, while oil slipped below $70 a barrel ahead of U.S. inventory data that could reflect slowing energy demand.

President Barack Obama will unveil on Wednesday his plans for reshaping U.S. financial regulation, with proposals to close one bank regulator and create new overseers for big-picture economic risk and consumer financial product safety.

The Obama administration plans to streamline U.S. bank oversight and put the Federal Reserve in charge of monitoring big-picture economic risks in a sweeping regulatory overhaul to be formally unveiled on Wednesday, a senior administration official said.

For more than six months after Sun Microsystems warned the world of flaws in its Java virtual machine, Apple finally released security updates for Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server 10.4.11 and 10.5.7.

Maurice Hank Greenberg, former chief executive of insurer AIG, testified before a federal jury on Tuesday that he did not have a fiduciary duty to fund an AIG compensation plan.

Lincoln Financial Group on Tuesday announced that it has priced a public offering of common stock in a bid to raise $600 million in capital.

After receiving a letter from group of privacy and security experts, Google is planning to turn on HTTPS as the default for all Gmail users all the time.

Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group LP are leading an investor group that is bidding to acquire First Republic Bank, a private banking unit of Bank of America Corp , Bloomberg News said on Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the matter.

The Obama administration plans to merge two banking regulators and create a federal watchdog on consumer financial products as part of a sweeping reform plan to be formally unveiled on Wednesday.

Searching photos over the net is not that easy, with users often falling on results they aren’t looking for, but now a new tool called Photobucket powered by Microsoft Silverlight hopes to get users to the photos they’re looking for fast.

Adobe Systems Inc, the maker of Photoshop and Acrobat software, posted the narrowest profit margin in more than 3 years, disappointing investors even though its revenue fell less than analysts had feared.

Barclays' board has recommended shareholders accept a $13.5 billion cash and shares offer from U.S. fund manager BlackRock for its Barclays Global Investors business, the British bank said on Tuesday.