That's below the 4.5 percent increase analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the warehouse club-operator to report.

NPR: Retailers Report Modest Gains For April

Costco Wholesale fell 39 cents, or 0.4%, to 88.65, after the wholesale club operator said March same-store sales rose less than expected.

WSJ: Dow Lays an Egg on Week

Royal Bank of Scotland cash machines and those owned by independent operator Bank Machine will be the first, with others expected to follow.

BBC: Cash machines set for charitable donations

On a per share basis, the mobile operator lost 28 cents, more than double the 12 cents loss expected by Wall Street.

FORBES: Sprint Plummets More Than 16% On Subscriber Loss; Falcone Sings $13.5B Deal

Ascena Retail Group climbed after the operator of Dressbarn, Justice and Maurices stores reported a smaller-than-expected decline in earnings.

WSJ: Dow Hits Highest Close Ever

Court proceedings were expected to start on Monday but were delayed as the Swiss rig-operator negotiates with BP over a possible settlement.

FORBES: Transocean Forgets Macondo, Focuses On Offshore Market Strength

Shares of the content delivery network operator Akamai Technologies are trading sharply higher after hours on Wednesday on better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter.

FORBES: Akamai Q4 Crushes Estimates; Stock Soars In Late Trading

The train operator has apologised and said it had seen a higher than normal turnover of drivers and expected to be fully staffed by mid-December.

BBC: Cancelled train sign

Kuoni, a Swiss tour operator, says it is taking new bookings for the affected regions, but they are, as expected, much lower than before.

ECONOMIST: Back to the beach?

But UnitedHealth and Amil said they expected their combination to win approval because Amil is a managed-care firm, not primarily a hospital operator.

WSJ: UnitedHealth to Buy 90% of Brazil's Amil for $4.3 Billion