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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.

U.S. activist investors are preparing a flurry of corporate ballot measures at Wall Street banks in hopes that some big items on their wish lists, such as CEO pay reforms, will gain new traction amid the subprime lending crisis.

Stocks slid on Monday as a brokerage downgrade of Citigroup Inc sparked a sell-off in financial services companies on concerns about credit losses and the housing slump. Goldman Sachs cut Citigroup to sell and said the bank may have to write off $15 billion over the next two quarters as mortgage losses reduce earnings.

Stocks fell on Monday as a downgrade of Citigroup, the No. 1 U.S. bank, fueled a sell-off in shares of financial services companies on renewed worry about mounting credit losses.

Merrill Lynch has expanded its presence in Russia, one of its core markets, announcing Friday that it acquired a 10 percent stake in TRUST Banking Group, a potential top 20 private bank in Russia in terms of capital and assets.

Major finance houses went some way on Wednesday to reassure investors that after months of credit market havoc, fallout from the U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown is containable.

Bank of America Corp, the second-largest U.S. bank, said on Tuesday it expects to write down $3 billion of debt in the fourth quarter as fallout from the nation's housing slump deepens.

Bank of America Corp, the second-largest U.S. bank, said on Tuesday it has suffered a $3 billion loss stemming from its exposure to collateralized debt obligations. The pretax loss would be reflected in fourth-quarter results, and could grow if market conditions worsen, according the Merrill Lynch Chief Financial Officer Joe Price.

E*Trade Financial Corp told customers on Monday it can absorb a writedown of as much as $1 billion and it is well capitalized, after a Citigroup analyst said credit woes put the online brokerage is at risk of bankruptcy.

Banks worldwide may lose as much as $400 billion from subprime mortgages, as at least one in four of the risky home loans go into default, analysts said on Monday. Mike Mayo, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc, estimated $150 billion to $250 billion of losses based on $1.2 trillion of U.S. subprime loans, and an additional $150 billion of losses on derivatives linked to subprime debt.

The top three U.S. banks have agreed on the structure of a backup fund of at least $75 billion to stabilize credit markets, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

Visa Inc, the world's largest credit card network, filed with regulators on Friday to raise up to $10 billion in an initial public offering, in one of the largest and most eagerly awaited U.S. stock offerings. Visa announced the offering two days after agreeing to pay $2.1 billion to settle a three-year-old antitrust lawsuit with rival American Express Co.

Bank of America Corp. (BofA) has revealed its plans to invest $35 million in an advertising campaign this weekend as a way of boosting and marketing its business.

Wachovia Corp said on Friday it suffered a $1.1 billion loss on subprime mortgage-related debt in October, while Capital One Financial Corp said more customers are having trouble paying their bills as the U.S. credit crisis deepened.

Two analysts expect Morgan Stanley will take a fourth quarter write-down of between $3 billion and $6 billion related to asset-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations.

Stocks fell on Monday after Citigroup's warning of billions more in loan losses compounded fears that the credit crunch could get worse. The news sparked a sell-off in shares of other financial companies as investors questioned which among them would be the next to reveal damage from the meltdown in the U.S. housing and subprime mortgage markets.

When Charles Prince replaced Sanford Sandy Weill at the helm of Citigroup Inc, he was given the unenviable task of replacing a legend. Shareholders feared he could never fill Weill's shoes. They may soon be proven right.

Large U.S. banks and brokerages will suffer additional write-downs of more than $10 billion in the fourth quarter as deteriorating credit trends continue to undercut the value of subprime mortgages and related securities, a Deutsche Bank analyst said.

Financials led a sharp drop on Wall Street on Thursday, wiping out the previous session's Fed-fueled gains, after brokerages downgraded the two biggest U.S. banks, sparking fears of more credit crisis fallout. Adding to the gloom, Exxon Mobil reported profits that fell short of analysts' expectations due to slim margins from gasoline production and lower natural gas prices.

Stocks sank on Thursday after a confidence-shaking downgrade of Citigroup by a brokerage that put the No. 1 U.S. bank's dividend in question and added to concern the mortgage crisis may claim more casualties. Adding to pressure, Exxon Mobil reported earnings that fell short of expectations.