IBT Staff Reporter

Yahoo Inc extended a deadline to nominate board directors, buying the company time to pursue alternatives to Microsoft Corp's $41.7 billion offer, while also giving Yahoo room to negotiate a friendly deal with Microsoft.

Ten-year treasuries fell for the third day in a row on Wednesday after a report about U.S. services industries noted that they contracted less than expected, indicating a stronger than expected economy.

The dollar fell to a record low against the euro and the dollar index on Wednesday despite a report which showed U.S. service industries contracting less than expected.

Social networking site Facebook denies rumors that it has approached major music labels about launching a music service in a bid to compete with Apple's iTunes, according to news reports.

Gold futures rose sharply Wednesday, gaining from its steep decline in the previous session, as the dollar traded near an all-time low against its major counterparts and crude oil prices continued to fuel inflation jitters.

U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday, led by energy and financial companies due to higher crude oil prices and increased optimism about technology spending after reassuring comments from Cisco Systems Inc. Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. source of mortgage financing, climbed after Morgan Stanley said earnings may improve next year, pushing financial shares up.

Warner Music has signed a deal with media site 7digital.com to offer its music without copy protection.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday that the new round of sanctions imposed on Iran by the U.N. Security Council will not affect China's trade with that country.

China's coal-to-oil experiments are developing smoothly, according to officials.

The Chinese government said on Tuesday that China will not abolish the a series of economic laws and regulations that launched recently, even though these policies mean that foreign investors doing business in China become even more difficult.

The Men in Blue scripted a fairy tale ending to the Commonwealth Bank tri-series tournament in Australia, by notching a historic win in the second final, Tuesday, in Brisbane - beating the world champion host team by 9 runs.

Apple reiterated its goals of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of the year in spite of growing concerns of a slowing macro-economy analysts concerns

The Sensex, the 30-share prime index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), took a beating on Tuesday, ending down 338 points on reports that the overseas operations of India's No.2 bank, ICICI Bank, had lost $264.34 million due to its exposure to the subprime crisis.

Menopausal women who took estrogen and progesterone faced a small increased risk for cancer for more than two years after they stopped taking the pills, researchers said on Tuesday.

Cocoa declined on Tuesday after rallying for six days on speculations that there will be a supply shortfall.

Google is making Google Gears available on mobile phones, an application programming interface that allows users store Web application data on their handsets.

Soybeans and soybean oil dropped on Tuesday amid speculations that China will increase sales of vegetable oil from inventories to slow food inflation.

Oil prices fell above $3 on Tuesday as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will keep crude output unchanged at its meeting tomorrow.

Gold futures dropped sharply Tuesday, as traders cashed in recent gains after the metal's surge to a record high in the previous session, while platinum surged close to $2,300 an ounce.

U.S. stocks dropped to an 18-month low on Tuesday , after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged banks to write down more mortgage debts. Financial shares led indexes to fall while oil and gold dropped from previous records.

The mobile gaming market suffered an unexpected slump last year, with many game developers and analysts pointing to telecom operators' lack of interest in investing in marketing games.

When a user winks, movement in their skin is detected by sensors clipped to their glasses or headphones, said Kazuhiro Taniguchi of Osaka University's Graduate School of Engineering Science, who developed the KomeKami Switch or Temple Switch.

For the second time in a month, Apple has simply missed the mark. Apple reportedly has failed to meet their goal of having 1,000 titles available on the iTunes Store rental service by the end of February.

Japan stocks closed Tuesday almost unchanged as investors worried about soaring raw material prices and the U.S. dollar's depreciation.

The FTSE 100 share index dropped 1.1 per cent on Monday after poor performances by banks and oil companies and worries of a possible U.S. recession. Overall the FTSE 100 dropped 65.7 points down to 5,818.6.

Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank, may need more capital from outside investors despite raising billions of dollars after reporting large write-downs related to bad investments in the U.S. subprime mortgage market, the CEO of Gulf state firm Dubai International Capital LLC said Tuesday, according to a report.

NBC Universal said on Monday it expanded the job of three executives and divided the responsibilities held by its previous integrated media president who will return to General Electric.

The three-month moving average of global chip sales came in at $21.49 billion, up 0.03 percent from January 2007 and ahead of expectations according to one research firm.

Incoming students at Oklahoma Christian University will receive new Apple Macbook laptops the school said, and also get a choice between a new iPhone or an iPod Touch.