ASML Holding NV, Europe’s largest semiconductor-equipment supplier, agreed to buy Cymer Inc. for 1.95 billion euros ($2.6 billion), its biggest deal ever, to satisfy customer demand for more advanced chipmaking technology.

American Express Co. said Wednesday that its net income rose 1 percent in the third quarter, aided by lower expenses and increased spending by the credit card issuer's customers.

One day after their contentious, finger-pointing debate, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney vied aggressively for the support of women voters Wednesday, as they and their running mates charged across nearly a half-dozen battleground states in the close race for the White House with 20 days to run.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks rose for a third day as Moody’s Investors Service kept its investment-grade debt rating on Spain and U.S. new-home construction surged to the highest level in four years.

Oil was little changed as new-home construction rose and crude supplies climbed to the most for this time of year since government records began in 1982.

Housing starts in the United States surged 15 percent in September to the highest level in four years, adding to signs of a revival in the industry at the heart of the financial crisis.

Los Angeles County assessor John Noguez, a top aide and a campaign contributor were arrested Wednesday as part of an investigation into influence peddling and slashing of property taxes for political allies.

Builders last month started construction on single-family houses and apartments at the fastest rate in more than four years, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. And they laid plans to build homes at an even faster pace in coming months -- a signal of their confidence that the housing rebound will last.

For banks, mortgage-making kept profits humming before the financial crisis, then blackened reputations and stamped out earnings when the crisis hit.

A surprisingly strong housing report helped push the stock market mostly higher Wednesday, while weak earnings reports from Intel and IBM weighed on the Dow Jones industrial average.

Drug and medical device maker Abbott Laboratories reported a higher third-quarter profit Wednesday, edging past analyst expectations, even as revenue slipped. The company, which is in the process of spinning off some of its businesses, also laid off 550 employees globally and said it plans to eliminate several hundred additional positions next year.

This week's positive momentum in financial markets stuttered Wednesday after fairly downbeat earnings from traditional bellwether stocks IBM and Intel, and as investors awaited a meeting of European leaders.

PepsiCo Inc.'s net income dipped 5 percent in the third quarter as the snack food and beverage maker poured more money into bolstering its flagship brands and developing new products that position it for the future.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Halliburton Co., the world’s largest provider of hydraulic-fracturing services, said third-quarter profit decreased 12 percent as customers negotiated cheaper rates because of the glut of fracking equipment.

Lance Armstrong is stepping down as chairman of his Livestrong cancer-fighting charity to help it limit the damage from the doping scandal that has snared the former champion cyclist.

Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers where an intricate maze of computers process Internet search requests, show YouTube video clips and distribute email for millions of people.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Corporate bonds in Brazil are becoming more vulnerable to losses than any major developing nation as companies exploit record-low borrowing costs to sell the longest-dated overseas debt in three years.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The euro strengthened to a one-month high while Spanish and Italian bonds rallied after Spain kept its investment-grade ranking. Stocks were little changed, Treasuries declined and oil advanced before a report that may show U.S. new-home construction climbed.

India and Australia began talks Wednesday to strengthen economic and strategic ties and explore cooperation in civilian nuclear energy.

Oil has long lived in harmony with farmland and cattle across the Texas landscape, a symbiosis nurtured by generations and built on an unspoken honor code that allowed agriculture to thrive while oil was extracted.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Satcon Technology Corp., a maker of energy converters for renewable projects, filed to reorganize in bankruptcy.

France is creating a new government-backed investment bank that will aim to spur economic growth by lending to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- PepsiCo Inc., the world’s largest snack-food maker, reported third-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates amid price increases and higher beverage sales volumes.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. energy company, agreed to buy Celtic Exploration Ltd. for C$2.86 billion ($2.91 billion) in cash and stock, adding production in Alberta’s Montney and Duvernay shale.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Polish industrial output shrank more than economists estimated last month, raising expectations the central bank will cut interest rates as early November to help avert a recession.

Laura Schoppe's small business gets about half of its revenue from contracts with the federal government. It's at risk of losing a chunk of that money when 2013 arrives.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- WhiteWave Foods Co., the maker of Silk soymilk, filed to raise as much as $320 million in a U.S. initial public offering as parent Dean Foods Co. tries to generate cash to pay off debt. Dean’s shares soared.

Television and digital media company Media General Inc. said Wednesday that its third-quarter net loss widened because of higher expenses, but revenue grew sharply thanks to an increase in political advertising and the Olympics.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. regulators ratified a proposal from AT&T Inc. and Sirius XM Radio Inc. that would let the mobile phone provider offer more wireless data service while protecting satellite radio subscribers from interference.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Knight Capital Group Inc. reported a quarterly loss of $389.9 million on bigger-than-estimated costs from the software error that nearly pushed it into bankruptcy.

Billionaire Barry Diller's Aereo is broadening availability of its service even as broadcasters challenge the legality of the startup's live television transmissions over the Internet.

Shares of Sonic Corp. advanced Wednesday after the company said its net income rose 18 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter, helped by tighter cost controls at its drive-in restaurants.

Federal regulators are proposing setting minimum capital levels that banks and other firms that trade derivatives must hold as a cushion against risk.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Two Stanford Financial Group Co. accountants were accused by a U.S. prosecutor of helping R. Allen Stanford perpetrate a $7 billion investor fraud scheme at the start of the last criminal trial tied to that case.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. said Wednesday that its third-quarter net income and revenue grew thanks to growing demand for its Internet security software.

The CC also has a coupe's kind of doors -- frameless.

Dean Foods Co.'s subsidiary WhiteWave plans to raise up to $368 million in its initial public offering.

Wanted: A few good recruits to serve coffee and help combat terrorism at 30,000 feet.

EBay says its third-quarter net income grew 22 percent, helped by higher revenue at its PayPal payments service and the marketplaces business that includes eBay.com.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc., owner of a social network used by more than 1 billion people, rose more than 2 percent after a research report said the company is showing signs of success in a push to make money from mobile users.

Investment bank Piper Jaffray Cos. said Wednesday that it turned a profit in the third quarter on stronger results from both its capital markets and asset management businesses.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The global economic slowdown is prompting companies to curtail technology spending and pushing consumers to favor mobile devices like Apple Inc.’s iPhone over personal computers, eroding profitability at Intel Corp. and trimming sales for International Business Machines Corp.

While Microsoft is touting next week's launch of Windows 8 as the savior of the computer industry, PC makers and analysts are increasingly skeptical that the new operating system will lure consumers away from tablets and smartphones.

Select Comfort Corp.'s shares dropped in after-hours trading Wednesday after the mattress company issued a disappointing full-year revenue forecast.

Kinder Morgan Inc. said Wednesday its third-quarter net income rose nearly 32 percent as the nation's largest natural-gas pipeline operator benefited from its acquisition of El Paso Corp in May.

Specialty chemical maker Albemarle Corp. said on Wednesday that its third-quarter net income fell 14.5 percent and warned that the fourth quarter will be even more difficult.

Verizon Communications Inc. says it will transfer $7.5 billion of its pension plan obligations to The Prudential Insurance Company of America.

Student lender Sallie Mae said Wednesday it swung to a profit in the third quarter after losing money a year earlier, as it reduced operating expenses and set aside less money to cover bad loans.

3M Co. makes an array of stuff that, taken together, can be a good indicator of where the economy is today, and where it's headed. That's what investors will be looking for when 3M reports third-quarter results on Tuesday.

Xilinx Inc., a maker of programmable computer chips, said Wednesday that its fiscal second-quarter net income fell 2.3 percent and it warned that revenue could fall as much as 5 percent in the current quarter as it deals with a “challenging macroeconomic environment.”

A Bangladeshi man who came to the United States to wage jihad was arrested in an elaborate FBI sting on Wednesday after attempting to blow up a fake car bomb outside the Federal Reserve building in Manhattan, authorities said.

It's the latest snapshot of the growing burden of student debt and it's another discouraging one: Two-thirds of the national college class of 2011 finished school with loan debt, and those who borrowed walked off the graduation stage owing on average $26,600 -- up about 5 percent from the class before.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Russian investment contracted last month for the first time since March 2011 as uncertainty over the economy prompted businesses to reduce spending.

The nation's crude oil and gasoline supplies increased last week, the government said Wednesday.

The Catholic charity Caritas is long used to providing food, clothing and medicine for poor immigrants. Now, Caritas says it is aiding more Italians than ever as the economy remains mired in recession.

A top German government official on Wednesday dashed hopes of swift progress on strengthening Europe's financial sector, saying this week's summit of the bloc's 27 leaders won't make any final decisions on setting up a single banking supervisor.

Halliburton Co. said Wednesday its third-quarter net income fell 12 percent as drilling activity declined and costs rose in its core North American business.

A new London exhibition has brought together more than 100 Hollywood costumes, from Darth Vader's suit to the world's most famous ruby slippers.

Libyan rebels appear to have “summarily executed” scores of fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, and probably the dictator himself, when they overran his hometown a year ago, a human rights group said Wednesday.

It's been nearly 40 years since New York City started planning a memorial to President Franklin Roosevelt on an island in the East River. Welfare Island was renamed Roosevelt Island, and American architect Louis Kahn was commissioned to design a park honoring the 32nd president.

Disney on Wednesday announced a new program for 2013 in which guests will encounter surprise weekly themes at Disney parks in Florida and California.

The international envoy to the Syrian conflict has called on President Bashar Assad's regime to take the lead in a proposed cease-fire during a Muslim holiday later this month.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- What Citigroup Inc. has always needed is a leader who will be straight about the company’s finances, without spinning the facts. For that reason, the departure of Vikram Pandit as chief executive officer is progress.

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. continues to experience a very marked slowdown in the growth of health-care costs, despite some widely misinterpreted new reports. And a growing body of evidence suggests the deceleration is driven by more than a temporarily weak economy -- which is good news for the federal budget and for workers.

Tuesday's presidential debate was a big hit on social media.

Celebrating a design 40 years in the making, dignitaries on Thursday dedicated a new memorial park to President Franklin Roosevelt overlooking the United Nations that he helped found.

Many of us know firsthand that losing weight and staying fit can be tough.

Now that the dust has settled in the New Mexico desert where supersonic skydiver “Fearless Felix” Baumgartner landed safely on his feet, researchers are exhilarated over the possibility his exploit could someday help save the lives of pilots and space travelers in a disaster.

The U.S. Supreme Court's top justice says people shouldn't think the high court makes decisions in terms of a liberal or conservative agenda.

but only slightly.

The self-styled terrorist mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks lectured a military court on government hypocrisy Wednesday and wore a previously banned camouflage vest to his pretrial hearing before being rebuked by the judge for his comments.