IBT Staff Reporter

Toyota Motor Corp aims to sell around 10.4 million vehicles worldwide in 2009, up 18 percent from last year as it grabs market share in North America and taps growing demand in China and other emerging economies, business daily Nikkei reported on Wednesday.

Stocks were heading for a higher open on Wednesday on optimism about renewed deal activity and speculation the Federal Reserve might cut its benchmark interest rate to calm turbulent markets.

Most Asian stocks tiptoed higher in early trade on Wednesday, lifted by hopes that the U.S. might cut interest rates to calm turbulent markets, but the stronger yen weighed on Japan's exporters, such as Toyota Motor.

Experts are reassuring investors that U.S. money market mutual funds, which have gathered about $165 billion in new assets over an eight-week period, are safe from the subprime mortgage problems that have caused steep losses at several hedge funds.

Delta Air Lines Inc on Tuesday named board member and industry veteran Richard Anderson the airline's new chief executive.

Nestle SA, the world's largest food company, expects U.S. volume growth of its bottled water brands to improve in the next few months as comparisons with last year become easier, an executive said on Tuesday.

A Cisco Systems Inc executive said on Tuesday the growing popularity of social networking, user-generated content and other new Web services will help U.S. corporate orders increase by double-digit percentages.

Ford Motor Co is considering exporting more North American-built vehicles to South America to meet growing demand, Dominic DiMarco, president of Ford's South American division, said on Tuesday.

A confluence of negative factors struck a blow to the confidence of American consumers in the latest week, with a weekly survey registering its biggest decline ever.

Analog Devices Inc, a maker of signal processors, posted a 17 percent decline in quarterly profit on Tuesday, as costs and expenses rose.

Apple Inc may sell more than 800,000 iPhones in the current quarter, UBS said in a research note on Tuesday. That suggested the company would easily top its own target of some 730,000.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose on Tuesday as a signal that the Federal Reserve might cut its benchmark interest rate soon muted persistent concerns about withering credit markets.

German banks face a critical situation because foreign banks are reluctant to lend to them after the joint rescue of small-company lender IKB, state-backed lender WestLB's chief executive said.

A prolonged U.S. housing slump is causing a surge in the number of job losses announced by U.S. financial services companies, consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said on Tuesday.

Tilera Corp, a Silicon Valley semiconductor start-up, is launching a single microchip with 64 processing units, or cores, in a technological jump generations ahead of the mainstream.

Struggling electronics maker Sanyo Electric Co said on Tuesday its mobile phone operations will likely turn profitable in the current quarter to the end of September, helped by brisk demand for its latest models.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled a willingness to consider an early cut in the benchmark interest rate to quell market unrest, a key U.S. lawmaker said on Tuesday after meeting with the Fed chief, sending Wall Street higher.

U.S. private equity fund Lone Star confirmed on Tuesday it was in exclusive negotiations with HSBC to sell its 51 percent stake in Korea Exchange Bank, with a market value of $4.8 billion.

Decades pass but the story remains the same -- financial markets lurch from boom to bust, central banks rush in to avert disaster and their rescue operation sets the scene for yet another boom-bust sequel.

China raised interest rates on Tuesday for the fourth time this year, aiming to counter expectations of accelerating inflation after consumer prices rose in July at the fastest pace in more than a decade.

A U.S.-based workers' rights group said it found brutal conditions and labor violations at eight Chinese plants that make toys for big multinationals, and called on the companies to take steps for better standards.

Nasdaq expects the sale of its London Stock Exchange stake to boost its stock price and enrich its bid for Nordic bourse operator OMX, target of a higher offer from Borse Dubai, Nasdaq CEO Robert Greifeld said on Tuesday.

China, the world's top emitter of sulphur dioxide, has managed to cut emissions of the acid-rain causing pollutant in first half of 2007, but the government said on Tuesday that meeting national targets would be tough.

The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour returned to its Florida home port on Tuesday, touching down safely at the Kennedy Space Center following a hectic but successful 13-day mission to the International Space Station.

Adams Respiratory Therapeutics Inc posted a quarterly loss, forecast its outlook for the year below Wall Street expectation and indicated that its key drug may face competition from a generic version.

Canada's annual inflation rate held unchanged at 2.2 percent in July and the core rate fell to 2.3 percent from 2.5 percent in June, a steady performance that analysts said makes an interest rate rise in September highly unlikely.

Stock markets may have fallen sharply from their recent highs over the past weeks, but there is a wall of money sitting out there that could turn it all into a far greater rout.

The Disney made-for-TV movie was the most watched U.S. TV telecast ever for the 6 to 11 age group.

U.S. stocks rose to session highs on Tuesday after a U.S. lawmaker said the Federal Reserve chairman pledged to use all available tools to calm financial markets, increasing speculation about a rate cut. U.S. crude oil futures fell below $70 a barrel, pushing up airline stocks like the parent of American Airlines, AMR Corp., up nearly 7 percent at $23.73. It was the first time oil has fallen below $70 since July 2.