IBT Staff Reporter

Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau SA said on Wednesday it plans to take full ownership of its North American unit in a deal valued at up to $1.7 billion as it seeks to cut debt servicing costs.

Wal-Mart Stores Co international employees have been given their marching orders from the company's chief executive: Grow, grow, grow!

BP Plc hit a snag in its latest effort to curb the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the British energy giant's shares stabilized on Wednesday and parts of the huge oil slick reached neighboring states.

In a reversal of the classic picket-line clash, Chinese workers at a Honda auto parts plant held out for higher wages this week while men in yellow caps from the government-backed union tried to end their strike.

Pending home sales hit a six-month high in April but falling demand for home loans pointed to ebbing activity in the vital housing market with the expiration of a popular tax credit for buyers.

Stocks rose on Wednesday after data showed pending home sales rose to a six-month high in a boost to the fragile economic recovery.

Former Moody's analysts say they felt pressure from bosses obsessed with market share to assign rosy ratings to risky debt products, while the company's current chief executive defended the rating agency's business model, according to testimony released on Wednesday.

Pending sales of previously owned homes rose more than expected in April, scaling a six-month high as prospective home owners took advantage of a popular homebuyer tax credit, a survey showed on Wednesday.

Dear Sam: Three years ago I resigned from a job because it was an extremely hostile and dysfunctional environment. Hostile to the point that the HR Director told me that she would testify on my behalf if I chose to pursue legal action.

Global cotton ending stocks are falling by an estimated 18% this season (2009/10), to 10.5 million tons, the smallest level in six years: cotton production is declining while mill use is rebounding. In 2010/11, global cotton production is projected to rise to 24.9 million tons, but mill use is expected to continue its recovery, so ending stocks will increase only slightly to 10.6 million tons, according to an assessment by International Cotton Advisory Committee.

Fossil fuels continued to play a big role in world's energy demand, according to participants at the 17th International Caspian Oil and Gas Conference. 'The age of oil and gas is not dead', says an United Arab Emirates (UAE) cabinet minister, citing the Oil and Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) prediction for growing energy demand.

The slow progress by the European Central Bank in stabilising European debt crisis has led to serious risk of jeopardizing the economic recovery by limiting consumer and corporate credit availability. Crude oil and refined products have not seen the same increase in implied volatilities as those seen in US and European equities may be due to anticipatory nature of equities to oil, according to an analysis by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.

Despite the rising prices of gold, physical demand for the yellow metal continues to surge. Physical demand for gold is robust and premiums on gold bullion coins continue to rise in key bullion markets like London, Dubai, Mumbai, New York and Beijing.

Investments in certificates of deposit (CDs) and real estate are not comparable to gold which is the most stable asset the world has ever seen, according to National Inflation Association of USA (NIA). Responding to investment advice by Dave Ramsey and others in mainstream media on the advantages of investing in CDs and real estate, NIA said that while on the surface, U.S. dollars appear to be 'safe haven' because they have a number on them that always stays the same. U.S. dollars are actually t...

The number of planned layoffs at U.S. companies in May was almost unchanged from April, when they touched a four-year low, suggesting employers are more upbeat about the economic outlook, a report on Wednesday showed.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday, recovering from a sell-off in the previous session, as investors awaited monthly data on pending home and auto sales.

(Reuters) - Common genetic differences have a limited role in causing breast cancer and work independently of lifestyle factors such as weight, diet and breastfeeding which are still more important, British scientists said on Wednesday.

Iran's central bank will sell 45 billion euros from its reserves to buy dollars and gold ingots, a report on the website of state-owned Press TV said on Wednesday.

Production line workers at Foxconn's southern China manufacturing hub will get a 30 percent pay rise, as top customer Apple Inc called recent suicides at the plant troubling but said the site was not a sweatshop.

Ireland expects to provide more capital to nationalized Anglo Irish Bank this year on top of the 4 billion euros ($4.86 billion) paid in 2009 and 10.3 billion so far this year, Prime Minister Brian Cowen said.

Foreclosures for sale continue to rise in Florida as more homeowners default on their home loans.

UK insurer Prudential has abandoned its plan to buy AIG's Asian life unit for $35.5 billion, leaving management under fire and the company facing a $659 million bill for failure.

Over the course of a dozen remodels among us, we've had experience with several different kitchen countertop materials.

Demand for loans to buy U.S. homes fell last week for the fourth straight week, holding 13-year lows, as the housing market adjusted to a selling environment without the federal tax credits that had stoked April sales.

The retreat in the U.S. housing market after the government halted its hefty tax credit in April should be short-lived, analysts say, and the market may resume its path to stability.

Stock index futures rose on Wednesday, recovering from a sell-off in the previous session as investors awaited monthly data on pending home and auto sales.

Stock index futures rose on Wednesday, recovering from a sell-off in the previous session as investors awaited monthly data on pending home and auto sales.

Honda Motor said a key car parts factory in south China resumed full production on Wednesday, ending more than two weeks of disruption after workers downed tools to demand higher wages in a high-profile and sometimes violent strike.

Agricultural Bank of China may struggle to get the kind of valuation it wants as it gears up to launch the world's biggest IPO into a market that has slumped by a fifth in just six weeks.