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By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. weapons makers reported higher-than-expected profit and improved margins for the first quarter, even as revenue began to taper off after more than a decade of sharp growth in U.S. military spending. Boeing Co's defense division, Northrop Grumman Corp and General Dynamics …

By Soyoung Kim NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc has hired advisers to prepare a possible $100 billion cash and stock bid to take full control of Verizon Wireless from joint venture partner Vodafone Group Plc, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Verizon, which already owns 55 percent of …

By Jessica Dye NEW YORK (Reuters) - A judge has denied Deutsche Bank AG's bid to dismiss a lawsuit by the city of Los Angeles accusing it of letting hundreds of foreclosed properties fall into disrepair and illegally evicting low-income tenants, a representative for the city's attorney said on Wednesday. Los Angeles Superior …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will put into circulation a newly designed $100 bill in October that aims to thwart counterfeiters with advanced security features, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. The new greenbacks still bear the portrait of Benjamin Franklin, an 18th century luminary who helped found the …

By Deepa Seetharaman DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co posted a higher-than-expected first-quarter profit on the strength of its North American unit, but overall structural costs spiked as the company took steps to re-invest in its global lineup and shore up its European operations. The No. 2 U.S. automaker paid an additional …

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Supply issues have snarled the U.S. rollout of Samsung Electronics' latest flagship smartphone, which will go on sale at carriers Sprint and T-Mobile later than expected, the wireless service providers said on Wednesday. Samsung attributed the disruption to unexpectedly strong demand for the Galaxy …

By Ayesha Rascoe and Deepa Seetharaman (Reuters) - Taxpayer-backed funds kept flowing to electric carmaker Fisker Automotive months after the company failed to meet key production benchmarks, lawmakers said at a congressional hearing on Wednesday. Republican lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee cited Department of …

By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Zynga Inc said on Wednesday the number of people playing its online games dropped dramatically in the first quarter, a development that overshadowed better-than-expected revenues and sent its stock tumbling in after-hours trade. Shares fell 10 percent to $2.99 in extended trading. …

By Olesya Dmitracova and Rhys Jones LONDON (Reuters) - One of Britain's few economic bright spots - a 13-month run of increased car sales - may actually say more about the country's ills than it does about its growth prospects. Much of the rise has been caused by a banking scandal, high fuel prices, erosion of savings and …

By Sinead Carew NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mobile phone companies are starting to realize they need more than phones to keep growing. Shares of AT&T; Inc fell 5 percent on Wednesday after the No. 2 U.S. mobile operator disappointed investors with its report of a net loss of 69,000 phone subscribers in the first quarter. It …

By Patrick Rucker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Using trains to move heavy crude oil out of Western Canada would be a poor alternative to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, Canada's top energy official said on Wednesday, and a rail-only plan would likely dent future oil sands development. U.S. officials are weighing whether …

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean automaker Kia Motors denied on Wednesday a media report that it aims to build a new plant in the United States by 2014 to ease a capacity shortage that has put a brake on its stellar sales growth in a key market. South Korean newspaper Financial News said on Wednesday that Hyundai Motor Group, …

By Michael Connor (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's new governor is trying to heal the Caribbean island's wounded public finances with an austere budget heavy with new taxes that could sap life from a wobbly economic recovery. When Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla presents his first budget on Thursday, he will be closely watched …

By Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - A federal judge said on Wednesday the U.S. government can proceed with a lawsuit accusing Bank of New York Mellon Corp of overcharging clients for trading currencies, a case brought under a rarely-used financial fraud law. While dismissing some of the fraud claims, U.S. District …

By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Does Twitter have a credibility problem? For many, a single fake tweet from the Associated Press account that briefly roiled financial markets on Tuesday, driving the Dow Jones industrial average down about 145 points, vividly reaffirmed the fearsome, near-instantaneous power of the …

By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Leading mobile chipmaker Qualcomm forecast earnings below expectations on Wednesday as competition in smartphones intensifies and shifts toward Asia, and its stock fell sharply. San Diego-based Qualcomm is benefiting from strong demand for smartphones and a shift by network operators …

By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P; 500 and Nasdaq ended flat on Wednesday with Boeing's five-year high among the day's highlights, but weakness in Procter & Gamble and AT&T; kept the Dow in negative territory. Procter & Gamble shares fell 5.8 percent to $77.12 after the world's largest household products maker …

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) - Firms that scour social media sites such as Twitter for information to help investors and traders make money faced their biggest test yet this week. A tweet reporting explosions at the White House appeared on the Associated Press's official feed Tuesday afternoon, sparking a temporary …