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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.

Merrill Lynch & Co named the NYSE Euronext Chief Financial Officer, Nelson Chai, as its own CFO today, replacing Jeffrey Edwards.

Merrill Lynch & Co named the NYSE Euronext Chief Financial Officer, Nelson Chai, as its own CFO today, replacing Jeffrey Edwards.

The Dow and S&P 500 rose on Friday, capping a dismal November with a four-day rally, as financial stocks rallied on optimism over a proposed rescue for struggling homeowners and on heightened expectations for more interest-rate cuts.

Dell, the world’s second-largest personal-computer maker, decreased $3.80 to $24.33, being viewed as the biggest drag on the S&P 500.

Stocks rose on Friday on a report the U.S. Treasury will soon unveil a plan to help stem the subprime mortgage crisis and on comments by Fed chief Ben Bernanke that added to expectations of an interest-rate cut.

Royal Bank of Canada reported a five-percent rise in fourth-quarter profit on Friday, as earnings growth in Canadian retail banking and wealth management offset weaker U.S. banking and capital markets results.

E*Trade Financial Corp is getting a $2.55 billion cash infusion from investors led by Citadel Investment Group, which is also buying the mortgage-related securities portfolio that has been the primary source of the discount brokerage's recent woes. The bail-out by Chicago-based Citadel will give the alternative fund manager about 18 percent ownership of E*Trade and a seat on the board, E*Trade said on Thursday.

Citigroup Inc got a call from a prominent investment banker suggesting a merger with Bank of America Corp as it was dealing with billions of dollars in mortgage-related losses and the departure of Chief Executive Charles Prince, Citigroup's board dismissed the informal approach as totally out of hand and no discussions have taken place, according to a report.

Wells Fargo & Co, the second-largest U.S. mortgage lender, said on Tuesday it would take a $1.4 billion fourth-quarter charge largely related to losses on home equity loans as the nation's housing market deteriorates.

Stocks rebounded on Friday in an abbreviated session as the start of holiday shopping lifted retail stocks, while progress in a plan to relieve the credit market's strain aided bank shares. Shares of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup all rose more than 2 percent. The three banks, spearheading an effort to establish a superfund to ease problems in the credit market, are expected to seek support from others in the industry.

Money management firm Blackrock has been approached by the three largest U.S. banks to run a $75 billion superfund to create a market for hard-to-trade securities imperiled by the subprime credit crisis, according to a report.