Last Update on June 19, 2013 17:36 GMT

CAR QUALITY

DETROIT (AP) -- Porsche is the top performer in an annual survey of new vehicle quality.

J.D. Power questioned more than 83,000 U.S. car owners about problems with their 2013 vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership.

In the results released Wednesday, Porsche, GMC, Lexus, Infiniti and Chevrolet owners reported the fewest problems. The worst performing brands were Scion, Fiat, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Mini.

The top complaints this year involved voice recognition systems that didn't understand commands and Bluetooth systems that didn't connect to drivers' phones. Wind noise was also a big complaint.

Honda had the top-performing small car and small SUV, with the Honda Civic and Honda CR-V. The highest-ranking midsize car was the Toyota Camry.

Chevrolet had the best pickups, with the Avalanche and Silverado.

EARNS-FEDEX

DALLAS (AP) -- FedEx's quarter profit is down 45 percent from a year ago as customers trade down to less-expensive delivery options and the package delivery company restructures some parts of its business.

FedEx said Wednesday that it earned $303 million in the fourth quarter, down from $550 million a year ago.

Excluding restructuring costs and aircraft write-downs, FedEx's profit would've been $2.13 per share. That's much better than the $1.96 per share that analysts were expecting.

The company says it's still being hurt by weak economic growth and customers choosing lower-rate international services. FedEx Express is cutting capacity between the U.S. and Asia.

MEN'S WEARHOUSE-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

NEW YORK (AP) -- George Zimmer, the ousted founder and executive chairman of Men's Wearhouse, says Wednesday he was dismissed after he and the company's board disagreed about how it should look.

In a statement released to CNBC following his termination, Zimmer says he expressed concerns to the board over the company's direction and that the board "inappropriately has chosen to silence my concerns," by firing him.

The AP could not immediately reach Zimmer for comment.

In a release issued early Wednesday, Men's Wearhouse declined to say the reason for Zimmer's dismissal. The firing came the same day the company had scheduled its annual shareholders meeting, which it postponed.

Zimmer has for decades been the public face of the company, known for commercials saying, "You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it."

MORTGAGE SETTLEMENT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A new report says homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure must wait too long for their loan modification applications to be reviewed by some of the nation's top mortgage servicers. Such delays can plunge borrowers deeper in debt.

Joseph A. Smith, the independent monitor of last year's national mortgage settlement, said Wednesday that while the banks are doing a better job complying with new mortgage servicing rules, more needs to be done.

The settlement between 49 states, federal government agencies and lenders JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial set new rules for how banks handle troubled home loans.

The settlement helped close a difficult chapter of the financial crisis when home values sank and millions edged toward foreclosure. Many firms had processed foreclosures without verifying documents.

UNITED TECHNOLOGIES-FRAUD ALLEGATIONS

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- United Technologies Corp. says a federal court ordering it to pay $473 million plus interest to compensate for alleged fraud in its sale of fighter jet engines could cut revenue and profit.

Judge Thomas M. Rose of the U.S. Southern District Court of Ohio issued the order Monday. The Hartford, Conn., aerospace company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it will appeal the order. With damages, penalties and interest, United Technologies said the penalty would rise to about $660 million.

The Justice Department said that United Technologies subsidiary Pratt & Whitney violated the False Claims Act, resulting in alleged overpayments for F100 jet engines from 1985 to 1990.

Rose said an earlier court order found Pratt & Whitney fraudulently asserted its prices were substantiated by recent data.

EUROPE-FINANCIAL CRISIS-OBAMA

BERLIN (AP) -- President Barack Obama is suggesting Europe may need to adjust its economic policies to tackle high youth unemployment.

Obama said at a news conference in Berlin Wednesday that he has confidence in the eurozone's policies to resolve the 17-nation bloc's debt crisis, but also warned that policymakers must not lead to lose sight "of our main goal, which is to make people's life better."

Unemployment in the eurozone has shot up to a record 12 percent overall. Youth unemployment in Spain and Greece is above 50 percent.

Obama -- speaking alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has championed Europe's focus on budget cuts and structural reforms -- says if youth unemployment goes too high it's necessary to "modulate" the approach to "ensure that we don't just lose a generation."

SPAIN-FINANCIAL CRISIS

MADRID (AP) -- The International Monetary Fund says recession-wracked Spain is making progress but is urging policymakers both within the country and in Europe to take "urgent action" to slash the country's crippling 27 percent unemployment rate.

An IMF report released Wednesday praised Spain's reforms for stabilizing the economy, particularly its public finances, but said unemployment was "unacceptably high and the outlook difficult."

Spain has been in recession for most of the past four years following the collapse of its once-booming real estate sector in 2008. Concerns over its public finances have also piled the pressure on the government to rein in spending.

The IMF predicted Spain's economy would see growth later this year. But it warned that despite lower sovereign borrowing costs, credit was contracting sharply and lending rates remained too high.

SWITZERLAND-TAX DEAL

GENEVA (AP) -- Switzerland's lower house of parliament has for the second time rejected a government proposal on relaxing Swiss banking secrecy laws, a move that would have helped the country's banks avoid facing U.S. criminal charges for shielding tax cheats.

Switzerland's National Council, by a vote of 123-63 with four abstentions, Wednesday put to rest the proposal from Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and the rest of the Swiss Cabinet.

The government had presented the proposal as a way for Swiss banks to cut deals and turn over confidential client data to U.S. prosecutors without breaking Switzerland's strict client secrecy laws.

In spite of the upper chamber of the Swiss parliament twice backing the proposal, the lower house has twice balked at the measure this week, calling it unclear and overly submissive.

TRAIN DERAILMENT-MARYLAND

BALTIMORE (AP) -- CSX is suing a garbage truck driver and his company for negligence in the explosive derailment of a freight train near Baltimore.

CSX Transportation Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., filed the complaint Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

It alleges that John Alban Jr. caused the derailment May 28 by failing to stop at a railroad crossing in Rosedale. The complaint says Alban and his company, Alban Waste LLC, were familiar with the crossing because the business is located near the tracks.

Court documents list Suitland attorney John Costello as Alban's lawyer. Costello said Thursday he hasn't been hired to represent either defendant and declined to comment on the case.

The National Transportation Safety Board said last week that stop signs at the crossing were faded and displaced.