Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it will build new factories in Mexico and China, ending a self-imposed expansion freeze and putting more pressure on global rivals.

Personal care and cosmetics companies Henkel & Co KGaA AG, Revlon Inc and Coty Inc are preparing bids for parts of Procter & Gamble Co's beauty business, according to sources.

China's Huawei unveiled its flagship P8 and P8 Max smartphones on Wednesday, devices that stack up against the latest models from Samsung and Apple in technical specifications if not marketing budget.

Video streaming pioneer Netflix Inc added more subscribers in the first quarter than it had projected, helped by aggressive expansion in overseas markets.

U.S. industrial output posted its biggest drop in more than 2-1/2 years in March in part as oil and gas well drilling plummeted, highlighting the negative impact of lower crude prices and a strong dollar on the economy.

The U.S. dollar rebounded against the euro on Wednesday after the European Central Bank reiterated its dovish stance on monetary policy, though weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data limited the dollar's advance.

Before Jane LeBoeuf started driving for Uber and Lyft, doing her taxes was cheap and easy. LeBoeuf would swing by the local H&R Block office, pay $150 and end up with a refund. But now, that is not the case.

The European Union accused Google Inc on Wednesday of cheating consumers and competitors by distorting Web search results to favor its own shopping service, after a five-year investigation that could change the rules for business online.

U.S. stocks closed higher on Wednesday, fueled by gains in oil companies and speculation that upcoming first-quarter earnings reports might not be quite as weak as previously thought.

The third-largest shareholder in Holcim (HOLN.VX) said it was leaning toward supporting the Swiss cement maker's merger with French rival Lafarge (LAFP.PA), according to an interview with Swiss newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft.

Nestle (NESN.VX) is in exclusive talks to sell its frozen food unit Davigel to food service operator Brakes Group as part of a drive to trim its sprawling portfolio.

The Frankfurt-listed shares of Internet companies Yahoo and Facebook outperformed those of rival Google, after media reports that Google would face anti-trust action from the European Union.

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) on Wednesday said demand for both the flat-screen and curved-screen models of its new flagship Galaxy S6 smartphones is "much higher" than initially planned for.

Chinese transportation robotics firm Ninebot said on Wednesday it has acquired U.S. rival Segway Inc, the company behind the self-balancing scooter that became a technological marvel when it was launched in the early 2000s but whose hype then faded.

Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) first leadership crisis in a decade has burst into the open with Chairman Ferdinand Piech's surprise public denunciation of CEO Martin Winterkorn -- but the standoff is now more likely to play out behind closed doors.

JD.com Inc, China's No. 2 e-commerce player, on Wednesday launched its JD Worldwide cross-border online shopping platform, a challenger to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Tmall Global service.

China grew at its slowest pace in six years at the start of 2015 and weakness in key sectors suggested the world's second-largest economy was still losing momentum, intensifying Beijing's struggle to find the right policy mix to shore up activity.

Brent crude oil prices rose above $59 a barrel on Wednesday amid tension in the Middle East and signs of a dip in U.S. production, but gains were capped by a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicating that supplies would take longer to tighten than previously expected.

European shares hit a 14-year high on Wednesday before a meeting at which the European Central Bank is expected to affirm its loose policy stance, as weak data from China raised prospects of monetary easing there too.

Japanese and U.S. officials will meet from Wednesday in a bid to strike a two-way deal giving momentum to a pan-Pacific free-trade pact, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), ahead of a leaders' summit late this month.

The yen is fairly valued around current levels, a key economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday, a day after comments he made were taken to mean the yen was too weak.

Russian tycoon, Alisher Usmanov, is to finance the restoration of one of ancient Rome's biggest public buildings, topping up the funding that Italy urgently needs to prop up its crumbling monuments after three years of recession.

China's annual economic growth likely slowed to a six-year low of 7 percent in the first quarter as demand at home and abroad faltered, fanning expectations that authorities will have to roll out more policy stimulus to avert a sharper slowdown.

Retail sales rose in March for the first time since November as consumers stepped up purchases of automobiles and other goods, suggesting a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the first quarter was temporary.

Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), the largest U.S. mortgage lender, reported a drop in quarterly profit for the first time in five years as employee costs rose at a time margins are under pressure from low interest rates.

Chipmaker Intel Corp forecast revenue broadly in line with Wall Street's expectations and signaled a hefty cut in capital expenditures this year, lifting its shares in after-hours trading.

Democrat Hillary Clinton blasted executive pay and tax rates for hedge-fund managers on Tuesday, using the first stop of her low-key campaign rollout in Iowa to highlight her promise to help Americans struggling toward economic recovery.

The Dow and S&P 500 ended higher on Tuesday, helped by energy stocks and quarterly earnings reports that topped modest expectations following worries about a strong dollar.

Crude oil futures rose on Tuesday on signs of falling U.S. oil production, weakness in the dollar and tensions in the Middle East, particularly Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has reduced contractual crude supplies to some customers in Japan and South Korea since March by trimming the volumes of oil loaded, six industry sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.