European stocks closed in the red territory on Wednesday amid geopolitical tensions, with the pan-European STOXX 600, France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX dropping 0.7%, 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively.
Recode, a technology news website, reported on Wednesday that Birchbox, an online cosmetics company, discussed a potential sale with several retailers including Wal-Mart Stores.
The EIA reported that US crude oil inventories dropped 6.5M barrels in the week ended August 4, following the preceding week's fall of 1.5M barrels and topping expectations for a 2.6M-barrel decline.
Non-farm productivity rose 0.9% in the United States in the June quarter, according to the preliminary data published by the Labour Department on Wednesday.
Statistics Canada reported on Wednesday that building permits jumped 2.5% in June, following the prior month's surge of 10.7% but surpassing analysts' expectations for a 1.8% drop.
According to the French PM Edouard Philippe, the police men arrested a suspect who was alleged to ram into the group of soldiers with a BMW car in a Parisian suburb.
Qatar is eager to launch a programme to allow a visa-free entry to the country for people from 80 countries as Doha seeks to encourage tourism and air transport amid a boycott imposed by the Gulf Arab states.
The American company KKR put its scheduled buyout of the Hitachi Kokusai's chip making equipment business on hold amid issues over deal terms, the firms reported on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, France called all the concerned sides to deescalate situation over North Korea after the provocative country stated it was considering missile strikes on the US Pacific territory of Guam.
A lawmaker from the German Left Party called for security guarantees from the country's foreign ministry to visit soldiers' air base in Turkey during a NATO-led trip.
Cambodia's Foreign Minister stated on Wednesday that the Southeast Asian countries were "unhappy" with the North Korean missile tests, considering that they posed a threat to regional security.
The Russian biggest bank Sberbank is willing to invest $500.87M into the Yandex.Market platform, forming an e-commerce joint venture between the two companies, Yandex announced on Wednesday.
The US credit card firm Vantiv will acquire the British Worldpay for $10B amid the American company's intention to create a $29B global payments powerhouse.
The leader of the Kenyan opposition Raila Odinga on Wednesday announced that hackers have broken into the computer system of the election system.
Qatar Airways company is evaluating whether the company will use the routes, which have been opened by the countries involved in the political standoff with Qatar.
On Wednesday, a BMW car bumped into soldiers in Paris suburb, leaving at least six injured before speeding off that was deemed as a deliberate act.
The death toll of China's 7.0-magnitude earthquake in the province of Sichuan climbed to 19, while the number of injured people soared to 247, according to the latest data on Wednesday.
The US Pacific Guam territory's Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo stated on Wednesday that she was confident the US forces would manage to protect Guam from North Korea's nuclear threat.
The leader of Kenyan opposition Raila Odinga rejected on Wednesday poll results of the Presidential election that showed his rival Uhuru Kenyatta in lead by 55.1% of votes compared to 44% for Odinga.
On Wednesday, Thailand sentenced a man to 18 years in jail for six video clips postings, which the monarchy found insulting following the authorities' intention to crackdown any critics of the military and monarchy.
Sinopec stated on Wednesday that its petrol stations and oil storage facilities had been unaffected by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake in the Chinese province of Sichuan on Tuesday night.
On Tuesday, Peru called Venezuela's government a "dictatorship" after hosting a new regional bloc's first meeting of 17 members that seek for a peaceful end to Venezuelan political crisis.
At least 13 people were reported to be dead, while 175 got injured after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the Chinese province of Sichuan late on Tuesday.
Walt Disney announced that it would stop offering its new movies to Netflix in 2019, as the company is set to launch own streaming service to generate higher profit.