IBT Staff Reporter

Pirates attacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia with rockets and automatic weapons on Tuesday but failed to board the craft, the ship's owner and the U.S. military said.

South Korea said on Wednesday it will soon announce plans to curtail the North's suspected trade in illicit weapons after its neighbor raised tensions by vowing to quit talks and restart its nuclear arms plant.

Miner Peabody Energy Corp , whose coal fuels 10 percent of America's electricity generation, said first-quarter profit tripled as higher-price contract sales offset slumping spot coal prices.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday Iran had prepared proposals to end a stalemate over its nuclear ambitions with six world powers, state television reported.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he expects U.S. Senate movement soon on the nomination of Ashton Carter as the Pentagon's chief arms buyer.

The Dow and S&P 500 recovered earlier losses to turn positive on Wednesday, helped by data that showed manufacturing activity contracted less severely, while Procter & Gamble gained after the company raised its dividend.

Oil retreated from session highs to just above $50 a barrel on Wednesday, after OPEC's latest monthly oil market report predicted a faster-than-expected drop in world oil demand.

Charles Schwab Corp said first-quarter earnings fell 29 percent as the largest U.S. online broker was hampered by lower assets valuations and interest rates as well as restructuring charges.

UBS AG will cut 11 percent of staff as it tries to stem losses and client withdrawals, its new chief executive said on Wednesday, warning that Switzerland's largest bank still faces an uncertain future.

World stocks were steady to weaker on Wednesday, trading off the previous session's 3-month high, while government bonds firmed as news of job cuts at Swiss bank UBS and weak data fanned economic concerns. UBS warned of a first-quarter loss of nearly 2 billion Swiss francs and said it would cut a further 8,700 jobs, weighing on other banking shares.

Stocks opened lower on Wednesday after the Chief Executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc said he sees no quick end to the recession, while Intel said uncertainty ruled out a clear revenue forecast.

Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc's first-quarter aluminum output fell a steeper-than-expected 6 percent, iron ore production was down 15 percent while refined copper rose 33 percent as the firm struggled to balance supply with global demand.

Three senior healthcare bankers have left Bank of America Corp for a boutique investment bank, adding to a flood of departures since Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch & Co in January.

Sanofi-Aventis has agreed to buy private U.S. cancer specialist BiPar Sciences Inc. for up to $500 million in the latest bolt-on acquisition by the French drugmaker.

Stock index futures fell on Wednesday after the Chief Executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc said he sees no quick end to the recession, while Intel said uncertainty ruled out a clear revenue forecast.

The head of Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Wednesday there remained a lot of stress in the economy and he did not anticipate a quick end to the recession.

Yahoo Inc is preparing to lay off several hundred workers in the first round of cuts since Carol Bartz became chief executive in January, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.

France's Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), China National Petroleum Corp [CNPET.UL] and Petroleos de Venezuela [PDVSA.UL] are in advanced talks about a deal to produce and refine Venezuelan oil to send to China, the Wall Street Journal reported.

World oil demand is shrinking faster than previously thought as a slowing global economy erodes consumption and keeps oil prices under pressure, OPEC said on Wednesday.

S&P 500 and Dow futures pared losses on Wednesday after a better-than-expected report on manufacturing activity in New York State, while CPI data showed a downturn in prices.

U.S. President Barack Obama hopes to get a climate change bill on his desk this year and is open to discussing how stringent the rules of a carbon emissions trading system should be for industry, a top adviser said on Tuesday.

U.S. consumer prices fell unexpectedly in March and recorded their first annual drop since 1955, government data showed on Wednesday, as slumping demand pushed down energy and food costs.

Toyota Motor Corp expects pre-sale orders for the new Prius hybrid to reach 40,000 units in Japan by the time it goes on sale in mid-May, a newspaper reported on Wednesday, a pace that would see it easily overtake Honda Motor's rival Insight model.

Oil retreated from session highs to below $50 a barrel on Wednesday, after OPEC's latest monthly oil market report predicted a faster-than-expected drop in world oil demand.

Stock index futures added to losses on Wednesday after the chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc said he still sees stress in the economy and no quick end to the recession.

The New York Times led the pack of nominees for the Webby Awards on Tuesday with 13 nominations, and comedy Web site FunnyOrDie.com also gained attention for its gay marriage video Prop 8: The Musical.

Officials at the U.S. Federal Reserve have discussed holding regular press briefings to help improve public understanding of unusual actions by the Fed in times of crisis, a Fed official said on Tuesday.

Cell phone makers are expected to report buoyant sales of lower-priced, feature-packed smartphones as consumers opt for cheap chic amid the global recession.

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wednesday ahead of the release of U.S. CPI data but disappointing quarterly reports from UBS and Intel Corp weighed on the market.