Pittsburgh

Stock futures are little changed as investors wait for more clues on how the economy is faring.

The quiet trading Thursday follows declines in markets overseas that came after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and said the pace of economic activity has improved.

The Fed's latest assessment, while slightly more upbeat, did not come as a surprise, and a brief rally in U.S. stocks that followed the statement Wednesday quickly faded.

Investors are looking toward impending reports on jobs and housing. Investors will also be keeping an eye on the Group of 20 meeting in Pittsburgh.

Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 1 at 9,718. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures are up 0.60 at 1,059, while Nasdaq 100 index futures are up 2 at 1,728.

With the world's major economies having stepped back from the brink of a devastating meltdown, President Barack Obama comes to a global summit here pushing a slimmed-down agenda designed to prevent a repeat of the conditions that caused such panic a few months ago.

Obama will tell world leaders that the global economy cannot continually rely on huge borrowing and spending by Americans and massive exports by countries such as China.

In informal chats and fancy receptions at the two-day summit beginning Thursday, the buzz words will be "balanced and sustainable."

Obama gave a hint of the message when he spoke at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday. He said other nations cannot "stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone. Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

This is the third meeting of the Group of 20 top economies in the aftermath of the financial crisis that plunged the world into fear a year ago. When the G-20 met in April, the economies of the United States and many other countries were under severe strain, and world leaders largely agreed on common remedies such as dramatically increased government spending to provide some stimulus.

A U.S. labor union and three paper companies have filed a new trade complaint over imports of Chinese paper, possibly fueling tensions between Washington and Beijing amid disputes over tires and other goods.

The complaint was announced Wednesday as U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, were attending a summit of leaders of the Group of 20 major economies in Pittsburgh.

The case accuses China, along with Indonesia, of improperly subsidizing exports of some types of coated paper that it says have flooded the U.S. market, wiping out thousands of American jobs.

It comes a week after Beijing filed a World Trade Organization challenge to Washington's decision to raise tariffs on imports of Chinese-made tires. The two governments also are involved in disputes over access to each others' markets for poultry, steel pipes, music and movies.

The complaint was filed by three paper producers and the United Steelworkers, a union for 6,000 of their employees. The companies are NewPage Corp., of Miamisburg, Ohio; Appleton Coated LLC, of Kimberly, Wisconsin, and Sappi Fine Paper North America, of Boston.

The St. Louis Cardinals missed their first chance to win the NL Central. Now, they can clinch it on Thursday without even stepping on the diamond.

Houston rookie Bud Norris shut out St. Louis for the second time and the Astros delayed the Cardinals' division championship celebration for at least another day with a 3-0 win on Wednesday night.

The magic number for St. Louis dropped to one when the Cubs lost in Milwaukee before this game ended. But Norris (6-3) pitched six shutout innings and Jose Valverde tossed a scoreless ninth for his 24th save.

"They are one win away from clinching this thing, but we definitely wanted to give them a fight," Norris said. "I think we did."

The Astros ended the fourth and sixth innings with double plays as the Cardinals continued to have problems with Norris. The right-hander won his major league debut in St. Louis on Aug. 2, allowing two hits in seven shutout innings.

John Byrnes boarded the windows and hired a security guard, but can't figure out why activists and anarchists planning to disrupt a meeting of the world's 20 most powerful leaders would want to bother with his 24-hour gym.

The X Shadyside 24-Hour Health & Fitness club is a one-man business, he says, not part of a profit-hungry conglomerate bent on global domination. Yet, like Starbucks and McDonald's, the gym is on a list of 80 businesses and organizations the Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project has targeted for protests during the Group of 20 summit Thursday and Friday.

"I'm just as curious as anybody why they're protesting my gym," he said.

Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard said intelligence reports suggest thousands of protesters are expected in the city Thursday and Friday, but she had few details regarding demonstrations.

Representatives of the Pittsburgh Resistance Project, an umbrella organization of protest groups, didn't return phone messages. Its Web site describes plans for an unpermitted People's Uprising, "a mass march" Thursday that will begin in a neighborhood northeast of downtown and end at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the primary site of the summit.

With the world's major economies having stepped back from the brink of a devastating meltdown, President Barack Obama comes to a global summit here pushing a slimmed-down agenda designed to prevent a repeat of the conditions that caused such panic a few months ago.

Obama will tell world leaders that the global economy cannot continually rely on huge borrowing and spending by Americans and massive exports by countries such as China.

In informal chats and fancy receptions at the two-day summit beginning Thursday, the buzz words will be "balanced and sustainable."

Obama gave a hint of the message when he spoke at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday. He said other nations cannot "stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone. Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

This is the third meeting of the Group of 20 top economies in the aftermath of the financial crisis that plunged the world into fear a year ago. When the G-20 met in April, the economies of the United States and many other countries were under severe strain, and world leaders largely agreed on common remedies such as dramatically increased government spending to provide some stimulus.

First lady Michelle Obama is taking on a new role as international hostess when she welcomes the spouses of world leaders headed to this river city for a two-day economic summit.

While the presidents and prime ministers spend Thursday evening and Friday chewing over the world's problems, Mrs. Obama will entertain their spouses by introducing them to Pittsburgh as well as to some of her own interests, including art and architecture, arts education, and sustainable farming and eating locally grown food.

Events are scheduled for a working farm owned by Teresa Heinz Kerry, a performing arts school and a museum dedicated to Andy Warhol, the 20th century pop artist and Pittsburgh native.

The spousal program kicks off Thursday with dinner at the farm in Fox Chapel, just outside the city, owned by Heinz Kerry, a noted local philanthropist who is married to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. The farm raises livestock and grows fruits and vegetables; some of it will be served at the private dinner.

In Washington, Mrs. Obama has been promoting locally grown food and healthier eating with a popular fruit and vegetable garden on the White House lawn, and she recently helped open a farmers' market near the mansion.

The Chicago Bears like to call themselves a team that "gets off the bus running." So far, there's been no sign of that heading into Sunday's game at Seattle.

Running back Matt Forte – the focal point of the Bears' offense last season – is averaging just 2.2 yards per carry, with no runs longer than 10 yards.

"It's somewhat frustrating, but you can't get frustrated because then you start looking for holes to run through and then you miss a cut here and then you miss out on some yards," Forte said Wednesday. "So you can't get frustrated."

Players and coaches blame a lot of the early running game woes on the blitzing Green Bay and Pittsburgh did in the first two games.

"The defense made some plays on us and it's been difficult to get to the second and third levels (of the secondary)," Forte said. "We've been struggling a little bit."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says sanctions are rarely productive but opened the door to tougher ones to halt Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

After meeting with President Barack Obama in New York, the Russian leader told reporters "in some cases sanctions are inevitable."

Obama's top priority in his sit-down with Medvedev was Iran's nuclear ambitions. Talks are scheduled for next month between a group of nations and Iran, and Obama wants to pursue tougher sanctions if those meetings yield nothing. Yet, Russia has stood in the way of stronger action against Tehran in the past.

Obama told reporters that he remains committed to negotiating with Iran in "serious fashion" but that "serious, additional sanctions" remain a possibility.

The Obama administration on Wednesday cautioned against complacency on the eve of a global economic summit, arguing that signs of an economic revival are not grounds for abandoning a significant overhaul of the world's financial system.

"We simply cannot walk away from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and not do everything in our power to reform the system that contributed to this breakdown," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said.

Geithner delivered that message in Washington to the House Financial Services Committee, which was opening hearings on the administration's sweeping overhaul of the financial system. But it was also a plea the administration was making to other members of the Group of 20 leading economies, who were gathering here for two days of talks on Thursday and Friday.

Those talks were being held under heavy security. Protesters have vowed to use the sessions as a stage to highlight their grievances against global capitalism.

Activists from the environmental group Greenpeace hung a large banner from a downtown Pittsburgh bridge warning of climate disaster and urging the world leaders to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Four protesters dangled from lines over the Ohio River.