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Merger advisory firm Lazard Ltd said on Wednesday that third-quarter earnings more than doubled, beating expectations, on record fees from completed transactions and continued growth in its asset management arm.

Deutsche Bank warned on Wednesday its biggest money spinner, investment banking, would stay sluggish after a global market crunch pushed the business into the red for first time in half a decade.

Investors in Countrywide Financial Corp. breathed a sigh of relief on Friday after the biggest U.S. after the biggest U.S. mortgage lender predicted it would regain profitability in the coming quarter and in 2008 after posting its first quarterly loss in 25 years.

As fallout from the summer credit crunch spreads, Wall Street faces more job cuts -- and smaller bonuses. Investment banks have announced thousands of jobs cuts as investors stopped snapping up risky corporate loans, mortgage securities and complex asset-backed securities.

Countrywide Financial Corp posted a $1.2 billion third-quarter loss on Friday as the housing market slumped, but its shares soared after the largest U.S. mortgage lender projected a return to profit this quarter as it slashes jobs and regains its footing. Shares of Countrywide rose $2.87, or 22 percent, to $15.94 in pre-market trading. Stock futures also moved higher.

California's largest bank, Bank of America (BofA) said that it will contribute to relief efforts in the Southern California fires by donating $1 million through its Charitable Foundation.Bank of America said that this donation is the first in a series of steps it will take to help fire victims and responders; and is now working with city leaders in San Diego and Los Angeles to determine the amount of assistance and resources needed in this endeavor."Southern California families, business and entire communities are in urgent need of immediate aid and we wanted to begin to begin to address that need as quickly as possible," said Janet Lamkin, President of Bank of America California.Chevron, based in San Ramon has also today announced a $500,000 to support fire relief efforts. It said that $400,000 will be given to American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and $100,000 will be directed towards local charities and relief efforts in the communities where Chevron operates.Chevron is also providing bottles of water and meals to evicted families.

China's biggest lender ICBC is to buy 20 percent of South Africa's Standard Bank for 36.67 billion rand ($5.6 billion) in cash, in the biggest foreign investment yet in Africa.

Bank of America Corp on Wednesday said it planned to eliminate 3,000 jobs, and shook up its corporate and investment bank after a dismal quarter at that unit led to a 32 percent drop in overall profit.The second-largest U.S. bank said a majority of the cuts will be in corporate and investment banking, and the rest elsewhere. The cuts amount to 1.5 percent of the bank's 198,000-person workforce.

Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have lined up emergency funds of up to $30 billion from the U.S. Federal Reserve to bail out American clients caught up in the global credit crunch, a paper said.

Wachovia Corp posted on Friday a 10 percent decline in third-quarter profit, missing forecasts, as the fourth-largest U.S. bank suffered $1.3 billion of write-downs at its investment banking unit.

Financial companies led Wall Street lower on Thursday after a sharp drop in Bank of America Corp's earnings stoked worries about the extent the credit crunch has hurt the economy and profits.Bank of America, the No. 2 U.S. bank, said profit plummeted 32 percent as it took large write-downs for leveraged and other loans and recorded losses from structured products, including mortgage debt.

Stocks fell on Thursday, hit by losses in financial companies after Bank of America Corp reported a sharp drop in earnings, stoking concern the credit crunch was dragging on profits and the economy.

The dollar dropped to a record low against a basket of currencies and the euro on Thursday after Bank of America's third-quarter earnings results missed estimates and renewed concerns of a U.S. economic slowdown.

Stocks fell on Thursday as shares of financial services companies slid on concerns about the lingering effects of the credit crunch following Bank of America Corp's disappointing quarterly results. The No. 2 U.S. bank said profit plummeted 32 percent, dragging down shares of other big banks and renewing worries about the financial sector's outlook.

Bank of America Corp, the second-largest U.S. bank, posted a much larger-than-expected 32 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday, hurt by mounting credit losses and dismal investment banking results.

Oil prices touched a new peak of $89 a barrel on Wednesday as investors fretted over possible military action by Turkey in northern Iraq and a potential supply crunch this winter.

China's CITIC Bank Corp Ltd is bidding for a stake in Bear Stearns Cos, a senior Chinese regulator said, in the first official confirmation of media reports that the state-run bank was a potential suitor for the smallest of Wall Street's five big independent brokerages.

Major stock indexes fell on Monday amid lingering worries that problems plaguing the credit markets have not been eliminated yet.

U.S. stocks fell on Monday, led lower by the financial services sector after Citigroup Inc offered a gloomier outlook and worries resurfaced about the stability of the buyout market.

Citigroup Inc, the largest U.S. bank, said on Monday third-quarter profit fell 57 percent, hurt by losses from subprime and leveraged loans, fixed-income trading and its U.S. consumer business.

Stock futures were little changed on Monday as investors paused after major indexes hit record highs on Friday and before the start of the quarterly earnings reporting season.

Blue-chip stocks fell on Tuesday as investors booked profits following a record reached in the previous session, but in the broader market, bank stocks and home builders gained as investors bet the worst of the credit squeeze may be over.

Stocks edged lower on Tuesday as a drop below $80 a barrel in oil hurt energy shares, offsetting optimism about further interest rate cuts fueled by the latest disappointing news on housing.

Stocks were set to open slightly higher on Monday, helped by optimism about shares' performance in the third quarter, while a profit warning from Citigroup Inc was expected to weigh on the financial sector.

Big banks try to gird for crises as a matter of course and investors will soon learn how prepared they were for this summer's credit crunch. Analysts and investors are speculating how badly Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and smaller rivals may have gotten caught by a flight from risk that caused the value of billions of dollars of mortgages and loans to evaporate.

The consortium that agreed to buy student lender Sallie Mae for $25 billion said on Wednesday that as of today conditions for the closing of the deal would not be met.

Merrill Lynch & Co Inc faces a $1.5 billion third-quarter loss on its fixed-income business, driven by $4 billion in asset write-downs connected to leveraged loans and mortgages, a Goldman Sachs analyst said on Wednesday.

Bank of America Corp said it will lay off about 2,500 workers in Illinois and 1,500 in Michigan over the next two years in connection with its $21 billion purchase of LaSalle Bank Corp from Dutch bank ABN AMRO Holding NV.

Shares in China Construction Bank (CCB) closed 32 percent higher on their Shanghai debut on Tuesday, beating other big Chinese lenders' first-day gains and boosting hopes for future large Shanghai share offers.