German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE) said Wednesday it has signed an agreement on the sale of its minority stake in a water utility to the city state of Berlin for 618 million euros ($759 million).

Trading in crude oil was choppy Wednesday morning ahead of the release of U.S. oil-inventory data and before the latest round of congressional testimony by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

There was one stock that gapped down today with an opening price significantly lower than the previous trading day's close: Harte-Hanks (NYSE:HHS) opened at $8.07, gapping down from its previous close of $9.25.

Grainger Inc. shares popped up over 8% in early trade Wedensday after second-quarter earnings beat analyst expectations, making it the third largest gainer on the S&P 500 .

Capital One was ordered to pay a penalty of up to $210 million by two regulators who charged it with employing deceptive marketing tactics to press or mislead consumers into paying for add-on products such as credit monitoring.

Having exceeded expectations last quarter by 4 cents per share, West Coast Bancorp (NASDAQ:WCBO) is scheduled to report again on Monday.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has upgraded its credit outlook for BP PLC (BP.LN), citing the U.K. oil major's improving financial position and the diminishing impact of costs stemming from 2010's Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

After falling below Wall Street expectations last quarter, InterMune (NASDAQ:ITMN) will report its latest results on Monday.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday state-controlled utility PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA (PGE.WA) was justified in tapping a former treasury minister to run its two subsidiaries responsible for building the country's first nuclear power plant, as the project is political by nature.

For the last five quarters, Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) has exceeded analyst expectations.