Broker Regulation

Stock indexes rose Wednesday after a steep two-day drop as international leaders scrambled to save a week-old plan to prevent a financial crisis in Europe. Strong corporate earnings and a bump up in hiring by private companies also helped turn markets around.

New projections by the state of Vermont say a public, universal health care system would cost between $8.2 billion and $9.5 billion a year roughly $13,000 to $14,000 per resident by 2020, but that sticking with the current system based on private insurers would cost even more.

It's become a regular exercise in budget brinksmanship. Medicare is again warning that doctors face draconian pay cuts on Jan. 1 unless Congress acts.

A wave of selling swept Wall Street and stock markets around the world Tuesday after the prime minister of Greece said he would let its people vote on an unpopular European plan to rescue the Greek economy.

Shares of Pharmasset Inc. climbed Tuesday after the company said it is starting late-stage clinical trials of an experimental hepatitis C drug.

Four prominent deficit-cutters told Congress' bipartisan "supercommittee" on Tuesday that they must strike a major debt reduction compromise that both raises revenue and revamps giant benefit programs.