WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve says it will maintain the pace of its program to keep long-term interest rates at record lows, but offered a slightly more optimistic outlook for the U.S. economy and job market.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve expects the U.S. unemployment rate to fall faster this year and next than it did in March.

Canada's largest grocer is trying out a new discount small-store format in a bid to attract more customers in urban areas.

TORONTO - The Canadian dollar was higher Wednesday as the new governor of the Bank of Canada used his first major speech since taking over to call on business to show confidence and start spending.

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

OTTAWA - The CRTC says profit margins improved at the country's commercial radio stations in 2012, as expenses shrunk and total revenue grew by 0.4 per cent from the previous year.

TORONTO - The Toronto stock market was lower Wednesday as traders hoped that the U.S. Federal Reserve will shed some light on what it intends to do about curbing some of its economic stimulus.

TORONTO - An anticipated financial recovery south of the border is likely to help economic growth in Canada, economists said Wednesday, although the U.S. is likely to outpace its neighbour for the first time in years.

MIAMI - Country singer Slim Whitman, the high-pitched yodeler who sold millions of records through ever-present TV ads in the 1980s and 1990s and whose song saved the world in the film comedy "Mars Attacks!," died Wednesday at a Florida hospital. He was 90.

TORONTO - The Bank of Canada is likely to start raising its benchmark interest rate in July 2014, a full year before the U.S. Federal Reserve, BMO's chief economist Douglas Porter said Wednesday.