Qualcomm Inc.'s (QCOM) fiscal third-quarter profit rose 17% as the chip maker continued to see strong demand for its smartphone technology.

American Express reported late Wednesday second-quarter profit of $1.3 billion, or $1.15 a share, compared with a profit of $1.3 billion, or $1.10 a share, in the same 2011 period.

EBay Inc. on Wednesday cited a strong performance by its marketplaces business as a key reason why it reported a fiscal second-quarter profit of $692 million, or 53 cents a share, on $3.4 billion in revenue.

Second-quarter profit at BlackRock Inc. (BLK), the world's largest money manager, slid 11% on declining investment advisory revenue and investment losses, and its chief executive said changes are being made to compete with lower-cost investments from competitors and to address the underperformance

Qualcomm Inc. issued a forecast for the September quarter that came in below analysts' projections on Wednesday afternoon, along with its results for the June period.

IBM Corp. on Wednesday reported a second-quarter profit of $3.88 billion, or $3.34 a share, compared with a profit of $3.66 billion, or $3 a share, for the year-earlier period.

Scorching drought conditions throughout the U.S. prompted the U.S. Agriculture Department Wednesday to declare 39 new counties in eight states as disaster areas, making farmers and livestock producers there eligible for emergency low-interest government loans.

U.S. stocks ended near their highs of the day Wednesday, extending gains into a second day, after Intel Corp.'s forecast, while reduced, gave a lift to tech stocks and following testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Brazil's telecommunications regulator has opted to suspend sales by three mobile phone companies in some states because of the volume of customer complaints, the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper reported on its web site on Tuesday.

Medical technology company Stryker Corp. reported late Wednesday a second-quarter profit of $325 million, or 85 cents a share, up from a profit of $310 million, or 80 cents a share, a year ago.