IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stock market futures were drifting Wednesday on concerns the hangover from Federal Reserve's Chairman Ben Bernanke's hawkish interest-rate comments may linger, with seemingly little else on the economic or corporate news front to capture markets' attention.

U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher market open on Wednesday, helped by upward momentum late in the previous session, but investors fretted about higher interest rates after a series of warnings about inflation from Federal Reserve officials this week.

Brookfield Properties Corp. said Monday that it will buy Trizec Properties Inc. and its Canadian investment arm in a $4.8 billion deal that pairs two of the largest commercial real estate companies in North America.

Istithmar Hotels, a Dubai government-owned firm, announced Monday that it had acquired the classic, Beaux-Arts style Knickerbocker Hotel in New York's Times Square for $300 million.

United Airlines' parent, UAL Corp., four months out of bankruptcy, must hone its focus on additional cost cuts or risk losing its advantage over airlines currently restructuring under court protection, industry experts say.

U.S. investors will watch next week to see if the latest employment numbers temper inflation expectations, without sharply dimming the outlook for corporate profit growth, giving stocks a chance to bounce back from May's sharp sell-off.

German drugs and chemicals group Bayer is not currently considering a bid for Pfizer's consumer healthcare business, an industry source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

Dusty Dezhou was relegated to the footnotes of Chinese history for centuries, known mainly as the place where a Filipino king died.

Baby boomers are infamous for meddling in their children's lives. But when it comes time for their kids to buy homes, get married and have their own kids, they are going to want less advice and more help in the form of cold, hard cash.

Luxury goods giant Gucci Group is gearing up to launch in India next year and is confident smaller designer brands will meet profit targets as its three-year growth plan bears fruit, CEO Robert Polet told Reuters. Niche brands Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga are growing rapidly -- by more than 100 percent in Balenciaga's case in the first quarter. Both reached profitability two years ahead of schedule.

Leading UK shares closed higher on Friday but finished the week with a moderate loss as the market's recent choppy trading pattern, sparked by inflation and interest rate jitters, persisted.

Germany's major automakers reported mixed results in the sales of their cars in North America during May, with BWM and Volkswagen reporting solid gains while sales by Porsche dipped, the companies said Friday.

Euronext's $10 billion tie-up with NYSE Group Inc. puts pressure on other exchanges to seek partnerships to catch up with what will be the world's largest financial marketplace, analysts said on Friday.

Microsoft Corp. expects Adobe Systems Inc. to file a lawsuit against it in Europe over the use of software to make electronic document files, according to a report.

NYSE Group, Inc. and Euronext N.V. announced on Thursday that they will merge in a cash and stock trade deal worth about $10 billion to create the first trans-Atlantic stock exchange to be called NYSE Euronext.

The Bush administration finally is on the verge of assembling a powerhouse economic team, headed by a Wall Street heavyweight able to set the terms for becoming its leader, after some 5-1/2 years in power.

Britain's leading shares bounced into positive territory on Wednesday, reversing direction from initial losses as consolidation hopes in the utility sector boosted stocks such as International Power, while insurer Friends Provident, rose after an analyst upgrade and financials generally added support.

Under pressure from Microsoft Corp. investors to return a portion of the company's $35 billion cash reserve and revive a flagging share price, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer on Wednesday defended the company's first-class problem of having too much cash.

Albertsons, the nations second largest supermarket chain, announced its first quarter earnings were up 67 percent on Tuesday.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares fell on Tuesday after Chief Executive Henry Paulson said he was leaving to become the U.S. treasury secretary, but investors say his heir apparent, Lloyd Blankfein, could continue the bank's winning ways.

The global semiconductor market is likely to grow 10.1 percent this year, World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) said on Tuesday, raising its earlier forecast of 8.0 percent growth due to brisk memory chip demand.

German chemical maker BASF has agreed to buy U.S. catalyst producer Engelhard for over $5 billion, clearing the way for the biggest takeover in BASF's 140-year history.

German chemical maker BASF is set to announce an agreed deal to buy U.S. catalyst firm Engelhard for around $5.1 billion, sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

Virgin Mobile USA, a cell-phone service used mostly by teenagers and 20-somethings, said on Tuesday it was giving its customers the option to earn free calls if they view and respond to ads on their phones.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the No. 2 maker of microchips for personal computers, said on Monday it will spend an additional $2.5 billion to upgrade and expand its two factories in Germany.

U.S. telephone giant AT&T Inc. risks losing customers to cable rivals unless it builds a fiber network closer to customers than currently planned for its video and Internet services, analysts said.

Arcelor said on Friday it has agreed to buy Russia's Severstal to create the world's biggest steelmaker, in a move that threatens to block Mittal Steel's bid for the European group.

Afraid of the consequences for growth and jobs, cautious Chinese policy makers show no appetite for radical tightening measures to cool the economy.

More than 20,000 blue-collar workers at General Motors Corp. have accepted buyout offers, surpassing the automaker's internal target, with a month to go before the deadline, the Detroit News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the situation.