Investors are searching for direction Wednesday, after two days of relatively flat trading. Stock futures are narrowly mixed.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will raise concerns that the U.S. Air Force's $35 billion tanker contract is anticompetitive when he visits President Barack Obama later this month, a spokesman said Wednesday.

World oil demand is projected to grow by 900,000 barrels per day in 2010, OPEC said Wednesday, revising up its previous month's forecast while cautioning that the increase is hinged on a sustained global economic rebound, particularly in the United States.

Legislation blending help for the jobless with popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals is slated to pass the Senate Wednesday over protests from conservatives who say it adds too much to the $12.5 trillion national debt.

British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia have offered to give away takeoff and landing slots at London and New York airports to soothe European Union antitrust worries, EU regulators said Wednesday.

Derivatives have become a dirty word. The complex financial products helped blow up the U.S. housing market. They all but sank AIG. Now European officials want to crack down on a derivative called a credit default swap.

China's exports rose in February in a new sign of growing global demand that could help persuade officials to let the Chinese currency rise.

Rich countries must strengthen financial market regulation and bring down their oversized government deficits, two of the biggest new challenges to have arisen from the global economic crisis, the OECD said Wednesday.

Bank of America customers will soon be unable to spend more than they have in the accounts linked to their debit cards. It's a step that may become a common move ahead of new regulations limiting overdraft fees.

The luxury apartment buildings Yang Xuhua passes on her way to work are a daily reminder of her own frustrated efforts to buy a home. Prices for even modest apartments in Shanghai have soared, putting home purchases out of reach for white collar workers and professionals.