AFP - Clothing-to-food retailer Marks and Spencer, regarded as a barometer of consumer sentiment in Britain, saw its share price dive by almost a quarter Wednesday after delivering a gloomy profits warning.

Reuters - U.S. private employers slashed 79,000 jobs in June while planned layoffs at U.S. firms rose nearly 50 percent above year-ago levels, according to data that may spell bad news for a government payrolls report this week.

Reuters - Fugitive former hedge fund manager Samuel Israel III surrendered to police in Massachusetts on Wednesday, ending a four-week manhunt after he faked his own death to avoid a 20-year prison sentence.

Reuters - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Wednesday that high oil prices, further home price declines and capital markets turmoil will prolong the American economy's slowdown, while Europe and the UK were also showing signs of slower growth.

Reuters - Stocks extended losses on Wednesday as the price of oil hit a record, exacerbating concerns about the toll that soaring oil is taking on the economy and corporate profits.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp is preparing a new bid for Yahoo Inc's search business and has approached other media companies about joining it in a deal that would effectively lead to Yahoo's breakup, the Wall Street Journal said.

Reuters - General Motors Corp will need to raise as much as $15 billion in cash to shore up liquidity and bankruptcy is "not impossible" if the U.S. auto market continues to slump, Merrill Lynch said.

AP - Wal-Mart stores in Arizona now stock Grand Canyon sweet onions while aisles in New York display state-grown eggplant, as the world's largest retailer says it has become the nation's largest buyer of locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Reuters - A federal judge in Miami has authorized U.S. officials to seek information from UBS AG about U.S. taxpayers suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to evade income taxes, part of a probe that could crack open Switzerland's tradition of bank secrecy.

Reuters - The U.S. economy is facing a tough second quarter and Europe will not be immune to the impact, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Reuters - U.S. auto sales plunged in June to a 15-year low, but a month-end clearance sale helped General Motors Corp retain its No. 1 spot and steer clear of the wipeout many had feared, sending its shares higher.