Wireless phone providers () and () announced a that will create a company with nearly 40 million subscribers. The Wall Street Journal reports that the agreement would forrce any rival bidders to pay a $1 billion fee if the deal broke up. (), the nation's largest phone company, was reported to be weighing a bid for Sprint, but its wireless partner () denied Tuesday it would make such a bid.
Verizon Wireless is the nation's No. 2 wireless provider. Moved higher early Wednesday, ahead of the weekly report on U.S. Fuel inventories. In addition, Yukos, Russia's No. 2 oil company, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States U.S. Crude futures were up 41 cents to $42.23 a barrel in electronic trading, while Brent oil futures gained 45 cents to $39.70 a barrel in London.
Major markets closed higher Wednesday after a closely watched Japanese business survey showed plans for increased capital spending. Markets were mixed in early trading. Closed higher following the Federal Reserve's decision Tuesday afternoon to for the fifth time this year.
Or prices rose in early trading, pushing the yield on the 10-year treasury down to 4.11 percent from 4.12 percent, near where it was late Tuesday following the Fed hike. The lost ground on the euro and the yen, spurring prices higher. In corporate news, the New York Times reported that (), the parent company of CNN/Money, could announce as soon as Wednesday settlements with the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission completing their probes into accounting practices at its America Online unit. The Times reports that it'll pay between $500 million to $600 million to settle the criminal and civil probes. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that a widely reported $24 billion deal that could be reached by () to acquire medical devices maker () is expected to face tough scrutiny from federal antitrust regulators. The paper said the investigators are likely to look not just at existing markets, where the two companies have relatively little overlap, but also at products still in the pipeline. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.