IBT Staff Reporter

Fashion designer Alexander McQueen hanged himself in a wardrobe at his home in central London after leaving a note at the scene, an inquest into his death heard on Wednesday.

President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus prevented another Great Depression while creating or preserving 2 million jobs, according to a White House report to be released on Wednesday.

Barnes & Noble Inc said on Wednesday that it would not waive its poison-pill anti-takeover provision to allow billionaire investor Ronald Burkle to nearly double his stake.

L. B. Foster Co said it would acquire Portec Rail Products Inc for about $112 million to expand its rail products business.

Deere & Co reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday, sending its shares higher, as costs cuts and strength at its in-house finance arm overcame what it characterized as stubbornly weak global economic conditions.

Harvard University's endowment is looking to sell a portion of its $5 billion real estate portfolio to reduce its exposure to the troubled property market, the Wall Street Journal said.

White House economic adviser Christina Romer said on Wednesday that the U.S. employment picture was stable, with job growth expected by spring.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc reported lower stakes in ConocoPhillips, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble Co in the fourth quarter.

Wall Street appeared poised for a higher open on Wednesday, boosted by strong results from farm equipment maker Deere & Co, and data showing housing starts rebounded more strongly than expected.

Expectations for defaults and losses in residential mortgage-backed securities continue to rise sharply in the United States, while tailing off in Britain, even as its economy has been slower to recover, a survey found.

Housing starts rebounded more strongly than expected to their highest level in six months in January, while permits fell slightly less than forecast, a government report showed on Wednesday.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday, boosted by strong results from farm equipment maker Deere & Co, as investors awaited data on the housing market and industrial production.

Shares in hedge fund manager Man Group topped the list of FTSE 100 gainers on Wednesday, with traders citing talk of takeover interest from U.S. fund group BlackRock .

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's No. 2 captured in Pakistan last week, was a charismatic military strategist who helped rebuild the group into a powerful guerrilla force after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Energy major Reliance Industries may be forced to raise its offer for LyondellBasell or abandon its bid all together after the target settled a dispute with creditors.

Iran's supreme leader accused the United States on Wednesday of war-mongering and of turning the Gulf into an arms depot, hitting back at U.S. accusations that the Islamic state was moving toward a military dictatorship.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday, the day after it posted its biggest daily percentage gain in three months, as investors awaited data on the housing market and industrial production.

Walgreen Co., is strengthening its position in New York City, as it announced today it has reached an agreement to acquire Duane Reade Holdings Inc.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it would install a system to ensure braking trumps acceleration for all new car models as it seeks to limit the damage from its vast recall woes.

The Pakistani military confirmed on Wednesday that the Afghan Taliban's top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had been captured.

Investors have not yet given up on the 11-month-old world markets recovery and there is little evidence so far this year of a retreat to safe-haven bunkers in the face of mini-shocks from Greek debts, China's monetary tightening and U.S. regulatory threats.

Morgan Stanley may hand over to creditors its $2.4 billion investment in a chain of Japanese hotels when the debt becomes due in April, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda said he believed North America chief Yoshimi Inaba was the logical choice to testify at the U.S. congressional hearings scheduled for later this month.

In the hard, exhaust-choked reality of his days trawling Longhua's clogged roads, taxi driver Zhang Bo's ambition to buy a small flat for his young family has slipped out of reach for now.

World stocks rose on Wednesday and the euro kept the previous day's sharp gains as strong earnings from both sides of the Atlantic shifted focus away from concerns about the euro zone debt crisis.

The pending $15 billion sale of a unit of American International Group to MetLife may be pushed back by a tax dispute that may require a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The smartphone market will continue to boom this year as handset vendors roll out new, cheaper models and cut prices of the older phones -- making them more attractive to a mass-market audience.

Asian shares leapt to a three-week high on Wednesday, powered by financial and resource shares after investors bought commodities on a weaker dollar, while Hong Kong shares shrugged off China's latest move to temper robust lending.

Toyota Motor Corp said it would scale back production in the crucial U.S. market further, as investors sought guidance from management on how long the sales fallout from an escalating recall crisis would last.