IBT Staff Reporter

The yen retreated from early gains on Wednesday and higher yielding currencies recovered as rising stocks signaled a slight return to risk appetite, prompting investors to move back into the carry trade.

Oil prices dipped on Wednesday as traders took profits from the previous session's rally to a new record high above $88 a barrel.

Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines Inc announced plans on Wednesday to team up on routes linking major U.S. cities and London's Heathrow airport in a challenge to rival British Airways Plc. The joint venture aims to take advantage of the Open Skies pact set to liberalize transatlantic rules next year, and will be implemented in April 2008.

Intel Corp posted a 43 percent rise in quarterly profit on Tuesday and raised its revenue forecast to above Wall Street expectations, sending its shares up 4 percent.

Yahoo Inc posted a slight drop in quarterly net profits on Tuesday due to weak spending from corporate advertisers, while investors waited for a signal on the company's next moves after a 100-day strategic review. Yang vowed in July that there were no sacred cows in the company's operations, and investors were expecting details of the company's review findings during a conference call later on Tuesday.

In an appeal to the mortgage industry amid a steep housing market downturn, U.S. Treasury secretary Henry Paulson urged mortgage investors and servicers to unite and stage an 'early intervention' to keep borrowers from losing their homes. 'Early intervention is critical,' to prevent defaults, the Paulson said Tuesday.

Iraq urged Turkey on Tuesday not to launch a major attack on Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would strike the rebels when the timing and conditions were right.

Shares of Marriott International Inc rose more that 4 percent on Tuesday on takeover speculation after the hotel operator announced plans for a $300 million bond sale.Marriott shares climbed 4.7 percent to $42.61 on renewed and unconfirmed buyout chatter, the flyonthewall.com reported on Tuesday.

Wells Fargo & Co and other U.S. regional banks on Tuesday reported disappointing third-quarter results, hurt by mounting losses from mortgages and other loans as the U.S. housing market slumps.Earnings fell short of analysts' forecasts at Wells Fargo, Regions Financial Corp and KeyCorp U.S. Bancorp's results topped forecasts, though profit fell. All four banks said loan losses rose.

Libya, Vietnam and Burkina Faso were elected to nonpermanent seats on the United Nations Security Council for the years 2008-09 on Tuesday.

Stocks fell on Tuesday as high oil prices raised concern about the impact of oil prices on the economy's outlook and disappointing bank earnings fueled caution about profit growth.

Shares in telecoms equipment maker Ericsson plunged more than 29 percent on Tuesday, their biggest intraday fall on record, after the firm said third-quarter earnings were well short of expectations. Last month, Ericsson executives had been more optimistic, saying the company was poised to grab an even bigger slice of the markets it targets.

Appliance and handset maker LG Electronics Inc posted a better-than-expected 15-fold rise in quarterly profit on Tuesday, boosted by rising demand for displays and mobile phones.

Microsoft told a South Korean court it wants to drop its appeal against a landmark antitrust ruling by the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), and the government agency said on Tuesday it was studying the decision.

Taiwan's Asustek said on Tuesday it will sell its new low-cost laptop PCs to consumers for as little as T$7,999 ($245) apiece, as it takes aim at more casual users in developed markets.

Oculus has entered into a reverse takeover agreement with waste recycling and carbon credit firm Aretae in a deal worth S$600 million ($410 million), the former contact lens maker said in a statement on Tuesday.

Singapore's Best World, a health care firm focused on China, expects profit growth to take a hit this year due to higher costs from its aggressive expansion drive, a company executive told Reuters on Tuesday.

China's CITIC Bank Corp Ltd is bidding for a stake in Bear Stearns Cos, a senior Chinese regulator said, in the first official confirmation of media reports that the state-run bank was a potential suitor for the smallest of Wall Street's five big independent brokerages.

Harry Potter might have waved his wand and cast a spell, but author J.K. Rowling sat down and cheerfully signed 1,600 books for schoolkids on Monday as she launched her first U.S. book tour in seven years.

Patients on the U.S. government's Medicare plan could have saved $15 billion in 2007 a report says, striking up a political debate.

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said third-quarter profit fell, hurt by restructuring charges and weak demand for its Procrit anemia drug, but the results handily beat Wall Street expectations.

Spain's competition watchdog has opened a probe of the country's three largest mobile phone operators for possible collusion, Spain's Consumer and Users Organisation said on Monday.

A new ratings measure that incorporates digital-recorder playback failed to boost the bulk of the shows airing during the first week of the TV season, according to Nielsen Media Research data issued Monday.

Adobe Systems Inc said on Monday the BBC will use its Flash software to broadcast video and audio from its Web site, giving the Web content software company another high-profile customer.

Major U.S. telephone carriers refused to answer questions from the Democratic-led Congress about their possible participation in President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic spying program, according to documents released by lawmakers on Monday.

Current, the television network backed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore, is embarking on a new Internet strategy to enlist viewers in submitting video and commentary to create broadcast TV news.

Amid an uproar over the huge demand for seats to pop idol Hannah Montana's tour, a U.S. federal judge on Monday barred the use of automated software to make mass ticket purchases from the leading box-office service Ticketmaster.

AT&T's bid to sell video services and compete with cable television providers suffered a regulatory setback on Monday when Connecticut officials rejected its application to provide Internet-based TV services.

U.S. broadcasters promised on Monday to air more than $327 million worth of television spots as part of a broad campaign to alert consumers about the approaching switch-over to digital television.