Tillerson's firing by President Donald Trump came as the former Exxon Mobil CEO returned from a trip to Africa. Trump said he would nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo as the new secretary of state, while the CIA could have its first woman leader, one who played a key role in the torture of terrorism suspects in the years following the 9-11 attacks.

Trump selected Gina Haspel to replace Pompeo as director of the CIA. Haspel, the current deputy director, is a career agency employee who once ran a CIA "black site" facility in Thailand where detainees were subjected to torture including waterboarding.

VW just gave Tesla a $25 billion battery shock. The world’s largest carmaker said it will equip 16 factories to produce electric vehicles by the end of 2022, compared with three currently.

McDonald's new tech features may be backfiring. Employees say they are handling more tasks and menu options without pay raises or adequate staffing. As a result, many of them are quitting.

CNBC contributor Larry Kudlow has “a very good chance” of replacing Gary Cohn, the outgoing director of the White House National Economic Council, Trump said.

Dick's Sporting Goods has vowed to limit sales of guns. Its problem, however, is poor sales of everything else, as revealed in its earnings report Tuesday.  

Not far from Norway’s North Sea oil rigs, shipbuilders are assembling some of the first ferry boats ever to be powered entirely by renewable energy. It’s the first step toward cleaning up the world’s fuel-guzzling shipping fleets.