Mark Brooks

Two incidents involving batteries on 787s led the Federal Aviation Administration and regulators in other countries to ground the planes in January. Boeing is testing a redesign of the battery system.

Sound familiar? The same warnings came last year. But now the presidential election is over and mandatory budget cuts are taking place, making a deal to avert a doubling of interest rates much more elusive before a July 1 deadline.

The government has imposed a daily limit on how much people can withdraw to stop a run on its banks -- the first such action in the 14-year history of the euro currency.

Under the law, the president was supposed to submit a budget on Feb. 4. But White House aides said deliberations over spending in the past few months delayed the release of Obama's blueprint.

The euro rose to $1.2822 in afternoon trading from $1.2774 late Wednesday.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for May delivery was up 8 cents to $96.66 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The limits on transactions, which include caps on withdrawals and money leaving the country, are a first in the 14-year history of the euro.

Analysts said Wednesday that wheat may be scarcer in the coming months after a hard freeze stretching from Tennessee to Texas damaged crops this week.

Credit or debit card payments abroad will be capped at 5,000 euros a day, while no checks will be cashed, although they can be deposited in bank accounts, the agency said Wednesday.

The euro fell as low as $1.2749, its lowest point against the dollar since Nov. 21. The euro was worth $1.2858 late Tuesday.

If the amended budget is passed, Germany will face an additional bill of 2.2 billion euros, France 1.7 billion euros, Britain 1.6 billion euros and Italy 1.3 billion euros.

A banking official said Wednesday that new controls will include restrictions on large-scale transfers from the country's two largest and most troubled lenders, Bank of Cyprus and Laiki.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for May delivery was down 40 cents to $95.94 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The precious metals and some key industrial metals fell Tuesday, while energy commodities were up and crops were mixed.

The House and Senate passed the spending bill last week. Without it, on Wednesday the government would have run out of money to keep operating.

Details about the bailout for the bailout have not been decided yet. It's not clear how much money will be taken from depositors with over 100,000 euros in the nation's banks.

The test, which is being conducted in an undisclosed market, is part of Wal-Mart's strategy to offer more convenience for Web-savvy shoppers to make their purchases wherever they want.

In a 10-billion-euro bailout deal clinched in the early hours of Monday morning, Cyprus agreed to dissolve the country's second-largest bank, inflicting significant losses -- possibly up to 40 percent -- on all deposits larger than 100,000 euros ($130,000).

The online travel company got a $150 million loan that matures in September 2017 and a $300 million loan that matures in March 2019.

In an order made public on Tuesday, the Fed said that Citi had agreed to fix "deficiencies" in its anti-money laundering controls.