IBT Staff Reporter

Advocates of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange quickly built a cyber army that took down MasterCard Inc's website using simple tools posted on the Web.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a Maryland business consultant and his uncle with insider trading, saying they used codes from the 1987 movie Wall Street to try to hide their scheme.

Credit card giants MasterCard and Visa came under intense cyber attack on Wednesday as supporters of WikiLeaks retaliated for moves against Julian Assange after the release of U.S. diplomatic cables that angered and embarrassed Washington.

The shares of two companies considered to be China's YouTube and Amazon.com soared in their U.S. debuts on Wednesday, as investors bet they could become dominant in a still-nascent market.

Google Inc didn't get the chance to compete for the largest federal government cloud computing deal yet announced, according to the Web firm, adding to its concerns that government agencies are unfairly favoring rival Microsoft Corp.

Municipal bond prices slid again on Wednesday, extending a sell-off that had been ignited on Tuesday by steep losses in Treasuries and anxieties about the possible end of a popular bond program.

DBSD North America, a satellite communications company, had its bankruptcy plan rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which said the plan violated accepted law. The plan was sent back to the lower court for further proceedings.

For Kathryn Confer, refinancing the mortgage on her home in Erie, Pennsylvania, became a race against time -- first because she was drowning under a 10.5 percent interest rate and then because of Congress.

Corrects day of week in third paragraphBOSTON - Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange quickly built a cyber army that shut down the websites of the world's two biggest credit card companies using simple tools posted on the Internet.

Netflix Inc is in talks to renew a key deal with Liberty Media Corp's Starz movie channel, but the popular online video provider said the deal was not essential to its success.

Securities regulators are probing whether traders have intentionally exacerbated volatility or unlawfully exploited the deeply fragmented stock markets, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said on Wednesday.

A privately owned company put a spacecraft into orbit and brought it back on Wednesday in a groundbreaking test flight NASA hopes will lead to cargo runs to the International Space Station after the space shuttles are retired next year.

Salesforce.com Inc agreed to buy Heroku, a privately held cloud-platform company, for $212 million in cash, to expand into the fast growing social media and mobile space.

With the end of the 111th Congress fast approaching and both the Senate and the House of Representatives scrambling to get major legislation passed before Dec. 31, many industries and organizations are pressuring lawmakers not to forget their needs.

The Federal Reserve is expected to unveil a proposed rule next week that would limit the transaction fees that banks can charge retailers when a customer uses a debit card, according to two industry sources familiar with the matter.

Failure by the Congress to pass a tax cut deal soon would materially increase the risk of the economy stalling and a double dip recession, White House economic adviser Larry Summers said on Wednesday.

Intel Corp said it is making headway getting its chips into tablet computers and that smartphones using its processors will go on sale late next year as it rushes to catch up in the fast-growing mobile market.

The bond market's horrific two-month stretch is teaching U.S. investors who poured some $700 billion into fixed income mutual funds in recent years a harsh lesson about risk.

PepsiCo Inc has increased its investment by an undisclosed sum in coconut water maker O.N.E, the two companies said on Wednesday.

ATLANTA, December 8 - The explosion of blogging, tweeting and other online diversions has reached into U.S. jury boxes, in many cases raising serious questions about juror impartiality and the ability of judges to control their courtrooms. A Reuters Legal analysis found that jurors' forays on the Internet have resulted in dozens of mistrials, appeals and overturned verdicts in the last two years...

Major U.S. airlines said revenues were still improving, but discount carrier JetBlue Airways pointed to weaker-than-expected holiday revenue, sending its shares down more than 6 percent on Wednesday.

The shares of two Chinese companies considered that nation's YouTube and Amazon.com soared in their U.S. debuts on Wednesday as investors bet they could become leaders in a still-nascent market.

Discount carrier JetBlue Airways cut its revenue outlook for the fourth-quarter holiday period, saying sales of higher-priced tickets had not materialized as planned, and its shares fell 4 percent.

U.S. online holiday sales are up 12 percent to more than $17.5 billion till date this year, with more than half of that making use of free shipping, according to research firm comScore Inc.

Nintendo faces a tough battle to boost growth as rivals snatch the lead in motion-controlled gaming from the long-time world-beater, just as competition from smartphones and tablets batters the handheld market.

Financial literacy has become a huge catchphrase -- the one idea upon which consumer advocates and bankers, borrowers and lenders, even Republicans and Democrats all agree.

U.S. stocks edged higher on Wednesday as gains in financial and technology stocks offset declines caused by a recent surge in bond yields.

A privately owned company put a spacecraft into orbit and brought it back on Wednesday in a groundbreaking test flight NASA hopes will lead to cargo runs to the International Space Station after the space shuttles are retired next year.

Major U.S. airlines on Wednesday said revenues were still improving, but discount carrier JetBlue Airways pointed to weaker-than-expected holiday sales, sending its shares down more than 8 percent.