Asian stock markets were higher on Wednesday as Greece edged closer to resolving its debt crisis, with the improved sentiment helping push the Australian market to a five-session high. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.3%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.2% to 4561.1, South Korea's Kospi Composite gained 1.1% and New Zealand's NZX-50 was up 0.6%.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 16 points in screen trade. Wall Street's sharp rise on Tuesday and news Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou had survived a crucial confidence vote in Parliament supported regional sentiment.

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Joseph Sellers is in the hole by about $7 million and does not expect to dig his way out any time soon. As lead counsel to the plaintiffs in the Wal-Mart Stores Inc employment discrimination lawsuit tossed out by the United States Supreme Court on Monday, Seller's law firm, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, dedicated about $5 million in attorney hours and spent $2 million on experts and discovery in the decade-long case, he said.

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Bank of America Corp unnecessarily burdened U.S. regulators who were reviewing the mortgage giant's foreclosure practices, according to a court filing. Federal regulators and state attorneys general have been investigating bank mortgage practices that came to light last year, including the use of "robo-signers" to sign hundreds of unread foreclosure documents a day.

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The chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, has warned that the country's creditworthiness is at risk if its borrowing limit is not raised. He said the US could lose its coveted AAA credit rating if Congress did not vote in favour of lifting the $14.3 trillion (£8.7 trillion) debt ceiling.

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