IN BRIEF

WASHINGTON

Housing, manufacturing upturns boost recovery

Improvements in housing and manufacturing are driving the early stages of the economic recovery, according to a Federal Reserve survey released Wednesday.

The Fed's latest snapshot of business conditions nationwide found "many sectors" of the economy either stabilized or logged modest improvements over the past six weeks. The pickups, though, often were from "depressed" levels of activity.

The new report adds to evidence that a recovery has started from the worst recession since the 1930s. Only two of the Fed's 12 regions -- Atlanta and St. Louis -- reported weaker overall economic activity.

SAN FRANCISCO

Twitter sells rights to Google, Microsoft

Twitter Inc. is selling the rights to mine its communications hotbed to both Internet search leader Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in dueling deals that underscore the growing importance of being able to show what's on people's minds at any given moment.

Microsoft's top Internet executive, Qu Li, said Wednesday that Microsoft's search engine, Bing, would become the best way outside of Twitter's own Web site to find out what people are saying in their Twitter messages, or "tweets."

Refusing to be upstaged, Google revealed on its blog that its search engine has secured the tweeting rights, too.

NEW YORK

Late sell-off sends Dow down 92 points

Spooked traders unraveled a stock market rally late Wednesday as worries mounted about banks and a jump in the price of oil.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 92 points at 9,949.36 after having risen 78 points earlier in the day to a new high for the year.

Analysts say a downbeat note from influential banking analyst Richard Bove raised concerns about Wells Fargo and sent investors rushing to dump financial stocks.

Oil also touched a new high for the year, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it will intensifying its price-cutting, a sign that consumers are still struggling.

HONG KONG

Asian markets drop on Wall Street weakness

Asian stock markets dropped today as weakness on Wall Street and confirmation of China's economic recovery led investors to take profits from a recent rally.

Markets were lower by about 1 percent, while oil retreated from a 2009 high, and the dollar recovered against the yen and the euro.

Investors in Asia were spooked by U.S. markets falling late Wednesday.

Meanwhile, news that China's economy expanded at a heady 8.9 percent in the third quarter, in line with market expectations, gave investors few reasons to wade deeper into the markets.