Business Blog Posts

The Mortgage Bankers Association will release the Weekly Mortgage Market Index for the week ended May 6 at 1100 GMT. The mortgage market index read 458.7 and the refinancing index was 2,081.6 in the previous week.

Major U.S. banks are willing to pay as much as $5 billion to settle claims by federal and state officials of improper mortgage foreclosure practices, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

The Commerce Department releases at 1230 GMT March international trade numbers. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a $47.0 billion deficit compared with a $45.76 billion deficit in February.

The Treasury Department issues the monthly budget for April. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a $62.0 billion deficit compared with a March budget deficit of $188.2 billion.

Companies announcing results on Wednesday include Cisco Systems (CSCO.O), Macy's, Inc. (M.N) and Symantec (SYMC.O).

HSBC (0005.HK) (HSBA.L) is to streamline its wealth management business, retreat from retail banking in some countries and may sell its U.S. credit cards arm as new CEO Stuart Gulliver attempts to cut $3.5 billion in costs and revive flagging profits.

Brent crude rose past $118 a barrel on Wednesday after a jump in China's implied oil demand to the third-highest level on record showed that Beijing's efforts to cool the economy of the second-largest oil consumer are doing little to dent use.

Facebook users' personal information could have been accidentally leaked to third parties, in particular advertisers, over the past few years, Symantec Corp (SYMC.O) said in its official blog.

Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose for a second straight day, boosted by gains in companies that provided positive outlooks for the current business year such as Orix Corp (8591.T) and NEC Corp (6701.T), while investors largely shrugged off slightly stronger-than-expected inflation data from China.

China's inflation eased in April to 5.3 percent and other data, including for industrial output and loans, suggested the world's second-biggest economy may be cooling and there was less need for further aggressive monetary tightening.

The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares extended the previous session's gains and was up 0.3 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 75.68 points, or 0.60 percent, at 12,760.36. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was up 10.87 points, or 0.81 percent, at 1,357.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 28.64 points, or 1.01 percent, at 2,871.89. (Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Louise Heavens )