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The dollar fell against the euro on Monday after Bank of America reported a bigger than expected plunge in profit and a European Central Banker dashed hopes for a euro interest rate cut soon.

National City Corp. said it will raise $7 billion in capital on Monday, following the lead of other major lenders, after reporting a first quarter miss due primarily to provisions for future losses in the falling housing market.

Bank of America Corp., the second largest U.S. bank, reported a steep 77 percent drop in profits on Monday, missing Wall Street expectations and sending shares plummeting.

U.S. stocks declined for the first time in five days on Monday after Bank of America Corp. and National City Corp. reported earnings that fell short of expectations and added to concern that banks are being hard hit by the subprime mortgage crisis.

Shares of Talbots Inc., the women's clothing department store, plunged more than 30 percent on Wednesday, a day after the company announced it had lost $265 million in credit.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the third largest U.S. bank beat expectations on Wednesday, despite reporting a 50 percent drop in first quarter profit as it wrote down $5.1 billion in assets linked to mortgages and other loans.

Charles Schwab Corp, the discount brokerage said on Tuesday its earnings from continuing operations rose 29 percent, spurred of by a higher-than-expected number of new client sign ups.

U.S. Bancorp, the sixth-largest U.S. bank, said on Tuesday first-quarter profit fell about 3.5 percent, on higher provision for credit losses, but managed to beat earnings estimates by a penny.

Kinetic Concepts Inc. which elaborates products to heal wounds agreed to buy $1.7 billion in cash for LifeCell Corp. to expand the diversity of its products.

Stocks fell on Friday after data pointed to more deterioration in the economy and the largest loss in insurer American International Group Inc's history signaled the worst was far from over for the beleaguered financial sector.Benchmark indexes sank to session lows after two widely watched surveys indicated U.S. consumer sentiment was at its lowest in 16 years and Midwestern business conditions were the weakest in more than six years.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown defended his reputation for sound economic management on Monday in the face of mounting criticism over his decision to nationalize ailing bank Northern Rock after lending it 25 billion pounds ($49 billion). Brown helped transform the Labour Party in the 1990s by ditching an attachment to state ownership.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced a political and public backlash on Monday after his decision to take ailing bank Northern Rock Plc into public ownership, the first UK nationalization since the 1970s.

Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are the most exposed to further writedowns from leveraged loans in the first quarter, as the value of loans and bonds created to finance leveraged buyouts plunges, Bank of America said.

Treasuries staged a comeback as safe-haven vehicles on Friday as greater risks of a U.S. recession raised the chance of a U.S. recession.

U.S. stocks bounced back on Wednesday after suffering a six-session long losing streak, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced from more than 323 points in earlier trading to just under 300 points.

U.S. stock markets recovered most of their heavy early losses on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve announced an emergency cut in its benchmark lending rate before the markets opened. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index which measures a broad spectrum of U.S. companies was down 1.2 percent in early afternoon trading.

Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank, said on Tuesday fourth-quarter profit sank 95 percent, hurt by more than $7 billion of losses tied to poor trading decisions and mounting credit woes.Net income for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company fell to $268 million, or 5 cents per share, from $5.26 billion, or $1.16, a year earlier. Analysts on average expected a profit of 19 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Stocks dropped on Friday as slowing consumer spending and write-downs in the financial sector sent the Dow Jones into triple digit losses. With earnings expected in coming weeks, investors are increasingly worried about how major banks and brokerages have fared in the most recent quarter after suffering losses related sub-prime mortgages.

In the early days of Countrywide Financial Corp, competitors underestimated Angelo Mozilo, the mortgage lender's founder.

Bank of America confirmed on Friday it agreed to acquire Countrywide Financial Corp. in an all-stock transaction worth approximately $4 billion, five months after making a $2 billion investment in the troubled mortgage lender. In July last year, Bank of America purchased a 16 percent stake in the nation's largest mortgage lender during the height of the summer's global credit crunch.

Shares of Countrywide Financial shot up more than 50 percent on Thursday after a report that Bank of America may buy the troubled leading U.S. mortgage lender. The reported pending talks, come amid rumors earlier this week that Countrywide needed cash to avoid bankruptcy, speculation that the company denied.

U.S. stocks rose for a second day on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pledged to further cut interest rates and on news that Bank of America is reported to buy struggling mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp.

Citigroup, Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co., U.S. banks which have seen heavy losses due to bad bets on the mortgage market, are in discussions to get up to $10 billion and $4 billion in capital respectively primarily from foreign governments, according to a report on Wednesday.

Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said on Wednesday that foreclosures and late payments rose in December to the highest on record, sending its shares tumbling for a second day to their lowest in nearly 13 years. Shares fell 11.9 percent in afternoon trading.

Hopes for double-digit earnings growth in 2008 have all but evaporated

The broader U.S. stock market was flat after an earlier rebound fizzled out on Thursday on concerns about technology spending in the new year and anxiety that Friday's payrolls data will offer fresh evidence the economy is headed into a recession.

Bear Stearns Cos Inc posted a much bigger-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday, capping a fiscal year when the fifth-largest U.S. investment bank took a beating on bad bets on risky subprime mortgages. It was the first loss in the company's history, and the bank decided top executives would not receive bonuses.

Bank of America Corp expects its fourth-quarter results to be disappointing due to write-downs and lower trading revenue, Chief Executive Ken Lewis said on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks sank on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve trimmed interest rates rather than slashing them, letting down investors who fear the economy might slip into recession unless the central bank becomes more aggressive.