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Economy
Federal Reserve policymakers left interest rates near zero and said that the economy is continuing to improve, but indicated that they still view the recovery as sufficiently fragile that they will keep rates low for some time.
Following a two-day meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday afternoon said that information received since its last meeting "suggests that economic activity has continued to pick up," and that "household spending appears to be expanding" even as it remains constrained by the weak job market and other factors.
Technology
New York's attorney general hit Intel Corp. with an antitrust lawsuit Wednesday, claiming the company used "illegal threats and collusion" to dominate the market for computer microprocessors.
Following a similar case in Europe, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo claimed that the world's biggest computer chip maker paid billions of dollars in kickbacks to computer manufacturers and retaliated against those that did too much business with Intel's competitors, namely Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Intel used its market prowess to "rule with an iron fist," Cuomo said.
An Intel spokesman, Chuck Mulloy, denied the charges and said the company's sales practices were legitimate. Associated Press
