IBT Staff Reporter

Businesses added more than 200,000 jobs in March, giving fresh evidence of recovery in the labor market, data showed on Wednesday.

Stocks dropped for the second straight session on Wednesday, a day after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting suggested further monetary stimulus was unlikely and a disappointing Spanish debt auction rekindled euro-zone concerns.

President Barack Obama called on Wednesday for stricter controls on lawmakers to confront the corrosive influence of money in Washington as he signed into law an insider trading ban he said was needed to help restore trust in the U.S. government.

Japan plans to build the nation's largest geothermal power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, the location of the massive earthquake and tsunami which led to last year's nuclear disaster.

Former Silicon Valley CEO Ben Nelson has two years and $25 million to transform higher education.

Stocks dropped on Wednesday for the second consecutive session as minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting published Tuesday suggested further monetary stimulus was unlikely and a disappointing Spanish debt auction reawakened euro zone concerns.

The United States is far behind on reforming the country's housing finance system, where the government's mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide funding for the bulk of U.S. home loans, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday.

Stocks tumbled on Wednesday as investors digested minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting published Tuesday suggesting further monetary stimulus action is unlikely.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Wednesday that JPMorgan Chase & Co will pay $20 million to settle charges that it unlawfully handled customer segregated funds at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Businesses added 209,000 jobs in March, suggesting the recent improvement in the labor market continuing, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.

The European Central Bank held interest rates at a record low of 1 percent on Wednesday, resisting German pressure to flag an exit from its crisis-fighting mode while support measures take full effect and support an increasingly shaky recovery.

A U.S. regulator is set to penalize JPMorgan for actions linked to the demise of investment bank Lehman Brothers at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, the New York Times said, citing people briefed on the matter.

Flush with success in building up his oil refining business in the United States, New Yorker Thomas O'Malley was confident he could repeat the trick in Europe at the helm of Petroplus.

Wall Street stocks were looked likely to open lower open on Wednesday, despite good private sector payrolls data, as investors digested minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting published Tuesday suggesting further monetary stimulus action is unlikely.

The European Central Bank held its main interest rate at 1.0 percent on Wednesday as persistently high inflation offset pressure to respond to the euro zone's shaky economic recovery.

Stock index futures fell on Wednesday after minutes of the Federal Reserve's March meeting released on Tuesday showed policymakers were less inclined to provide more economic stimulus, curbing investors' appetite for risky assets.

Even courtroom adversaries can be partners in the nascent online movie rental business.

Stock index futures fell on Wednesday after minutes of the Federal Reserve's March meeting released on Tuesday showed policymakers were less inclined to provide more economic stimulus, curbing investors' appetite for risky assets.

Stock index futures fell on Wednesday after minutes of the Federal Reserve's March meeting released on Tuesday showed policymakers were less inclined to provide more economic stimulus, curbing investors' appetite for risky assets.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones futures and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.7 to 0.8 percent at 05.18 a.m. EDT.

A warehouse company owned by commodity trader Glencore is rapidly expanding its lucrative storage facilities at a Dutch port that has become a hub for storing aluminum, a metal increasingly used by bankers and traders as a financing tool.

- China's premier called the country's big banks a monopoly that needed to be broken to get money flowing to cash-starved private firms, as the nation's economy appears to have skidded to its slowest growth in three years.

Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker said he has a preferred candidate to succeed him as head of the influential Eurogroup assembly of euro zone finance ministers but is not yet prepared to name the person.

Moody's on Tuesday downgraded the ratings of conglomerate General Electric Co and its finance unit General Electric Capital Corp. each by a notch to reflect risks in GE Capital's funding model, and said risks still remain.

Foxconn Technology's agreement to improve the lot of its 1.2 million workers in China who make Apple Inc's iPads and iPhones is a signal that China is losing its title as the world's lowest-cost producer of everything.

A Brazilian federal prosecutor on Tuesday launched his second 20 billion real ($10.9 billion) lawsuit against U.S. oil company Chevron and driller Transocean , doubling the stakes against the companies as critics call him as overzealous.

A federal judge rejected Bank of New York Mellon Corp's bid to dismiss a lawsuit by investors over its role as trustee for mortgage-backed securities that led to an $8.5 billion settlement by Bank of America Corp.

A dozen U.S. companies have agreed to disclose more about their lobbying efforts in return for avoiding public showdowns at their annual meetings, a sign of growing traction for corporate governance reforms this year.

A $740 million portfolio of performing loans held by failed German bank Eurohypo AG on U.S. properties has attracted more than 100 prospective buyers, several sources said on Tuesday.