SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A panel that advises the Food and Drug Administration recommended approval of a weight-loss drug made by Vivus Inc. , according to media reports later Wednesday. The advisory panel, which the FDA is not required to follow, voted 20 to 2 to support the approval of Vivus' Qnexa, which would fill a void left by weight-loss drugs pulled from the U.S. market because of various safety issues. The FDA is expected to make a decision by April 17. Shares of Vivus were halted early Wednesday morning.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The G-20 will not decide on boosting resources for the International Monetary Fund until after euro-zone officials agree on their own rescue fund at a summit in early March, Lael Brainard, Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, said Wednesday. The IMF is currently seeking to raise up to $500 billion in additional lending resources so it's better equipped to respond to the euro crisis and other emergencies. But the United States and other countries are pushing Europe to first bolster the firewall designed to prevent the debt crisis from engulfing Spain or Italy. Brainard refused to give details on the size of the rescue fund, saying only that it must be big enough to convince financial markets "of the commitment by the members of the euro area to protect the euro area." She added that the firewall also must be "fully operational" and able to provide emergency funding for bank recapitalizations and sovereign needs. Europe's debt crisis will be a topic of discussion at the G-20 finance and central-bank officials' meeting in Mexico City this weekend, according to Brainard.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil supplies rose 3.6 million barrels on the week ended Feb. 17, a trade group said late Wednesday. The American Petroleum Institute reported its weekly supply data a day later due to Presidents Day holiday. The API said gasoline supplies rose 314,000 barrels, while distillates stockpiles were up 630,000. The Energy Information Administration reports official data Thursday, also a day later than usual. Analysts polled by Platts expect crude-oil supplies up 1.7 million barrels, gasoline stockpiles down 450,000 barrels, and distillates inventories down 1.8 million barrels. Oil futures ended at a nine-month high on Wednesday at $106.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- SkullCandy Inc. said Wednesday afternoon that it swung to a fourth-quarter profit on stronger-than-expected sales of its headphone products and other audio accessories. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, SkullCandy reported net income of $12.3 million, or 44 cents a share, compared to a net loss of $9.7 million, or 69 cents a share, for the same period the previous year. Earnings on a non-GAAP basis would have been $13.2 million, or 47 cents a share, for the recent period. Revenue rose 29% to $83.4 milliion. Analysts were expecting earnings of 48 cents a share on revenue of $662.4 million for the period, according to consensus estimates from FactSet Research.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.