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The U.S. Treasury Department lacks the manpower to properly monitor how big companies that got billions of taxpayers' money use it, a critical report on Tuesday from an oversight agency said.

Global merger and acquisition activity in 2010 is off to its worst start in six years, and with economic uncertainty and a sovereign debt crisis in Europe, the second half could be just as disappointing.

Stock index futures rose on Friday as investors digested a historic agreement by U.S. lawmakers to overhaul financial regulations and awaited final readings on gross domestic product and consumer sentiment.

Lawmakers on Thursday agreed to boost banks' capital requirements and neared agreement on a derivatives crackdown as they closed in on a historic overhaul of financial regulations.

Relational Investors LLC, which owns 4 percent of Charles River Laboratories International , has warned the company that its directors will likely be booted off the board by angry shareholders if it proceeds with its plan to acquire Chinese contract research organization WuXi PharmaTech for $1.6 billion.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch expects to launch a new online brokerage service on Monday to attract less affluent investors who trade through discount firms like Charles Schwab or E*Trade, a bank spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Investors have become less bullish about the global economy but have not given up on riskier assets, finding equities as cheap as they have been since March 2009, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch poll showed on Tuesday.

Wells Fargo Advisors recently vaulted past Wall Street rivals to become one of the largest U.S. brokerages. Just don't tell its chief executive.

Stock index futures rose on Wednesday as Wall Street looked to build on gains in the previous session after unofficial data showed Chinese exports blew past expectations, easing concerns about a global recovery.

Countrywide Financial Corp, the mortgage lender that became synonymous with risky lending practices, has agreed to pay $108 million to settle government charges that two Countrywide mortgage servicing companies misled and overcharged consumers.

Agricultural Bank of China , preparing for the world's largest-ever IPO, unveiled key financial figures on Friday, detailing plans to issue up to 47.6 billion new shares and forecasting a sharp rise in yearly net profit.

Investors will scour a preliminary prospectus for Agricultural Bank of China's around $30 billion IPO, the world's largest, for updates on its book value and bad loans.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan are the lead candidates for senior manager underwriting roles on the General Motors initial public offering, according to Fox Business Network's Charlie Gasparino.

Agricultural Bank of China may struggle to get the kind of valuation it wants as it gears up to launch the world's biggest IPO into a market that has slumped by a fifth in just six weeks.

Stocks rose on Wednesday as investors bought shares of beaten-down companies following recent losses, and after new home sales rose last month to their highest in almost two years.

The Senate named 12 senators, including tough Wall Street critics and more moderate members, Tuesday to a panel that will finalize the most sweeping overhaul of financial regulations since the 1930s.

Stocks rose on Friday, with bank shares leading a rebound as worries ebbed over the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and an overhaul of U.S. financial regulation.

Stocks rose on Friday, with bank shares leading a rebound as worries ebbed over the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and an overhaul of U.S. financial regulation.

Bank of America Corp agreed to sell preferred and common shares of Brazil's Itau Unibanco in a deal valued at 8.16 billion reais ($4.5 billion), ending a partnership started in 2006 when the Brazilian bank took over the local unit of FleetBoston Financial.

Moving to clear away an obstacle to passage of a Wall Street reform bill, key U.S. senators have struck a compromise balancing state and federal powers in bank consumer protection, aides said on Tuesday.

U.S. credit card delinquencies fell for the fourth straight month in April, the latest indicator that Americans are recovering from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc and a consortium of other top banks are part of an effort to save ShoreBank Corp, a Chicago bank with Washington ties, a community activist close to the institution said on Friday.

Prosecutors are conducting a broad criminal investigation of six major Wall Street banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc, to determine if they misled investors, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Bank of America Corp said on Thursday that it had modified roughly 56,000 customer mortgages so far this year under the primary U.S. government program aimed at preventing bank foreclosures.

U.S. authorities are expanding their probes of past mortgage securities deals, with New York's attorney general opening an investigation into whether eight banks misled rating agencies, a source familiar with the matter said.

Five U.S. banks and four European lenders are being investigated by U.S. authorities, as they widen their probe of the role of banks in past mortgage securities deals, according to news reports.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a strong start for Wall Street on Monday, with shares set to rebound as confidence was boosted after global policymakers came up with an emergency rescue package worth around $1 trillion aimed at preventing Greece's debt crisis from spreading through the euro zone.

Countrywide Financial Corp, the mortgage lender acquired by Bank of America Corp , has agreed to a $624 million settlement of a lawsuit accusing it of misleading investors about its lending practices.

A British tax on bank executives' bonuses will cost two of the biggest U.S. banks a combined $1 billion.