Sponsored by Credit Suisse

Convicted hedge fund swindler Bernard Madoff gave an interview to New York Magazine, in which he discussed a number of subjects, including government regulatory reform, prison life and his family. Here are some choice quotes from the interview:

HSBC cut its profitability targets due to the cost of tougher banking regulations and plans to cut costs and overhaul other areas after its annual profits fell short of expectations.

Hutchison Whampoa's ports unit is looking to raise as much as $5.8 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) in Singapore, allowing investors to tap into China's booming infrastructure business.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Wednesday are: Salesforce.com, Sandridge Energy, FTI Consulting, Medicis Pharmaceutical and Clean Harbors. The top after-market NYSE losers are: Sturm, Ruger & Co, RailAmerica, Cinemark Holdings, Omnicare and Tyler Technologies.

Credit Suisse said the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand on Monday appears to have caused more physical damage than the larger (7.1 magnitude) quake that hit the South Island city on September 4.

China should account for 8-9 percent of global mergers and acquisition activity this year, continuing close to its strong levels in 2009 and 2010, JPMorgan's head of China M&A said Tuesday.

Does the unemployment rate is really improving as the US labor force participation rate has been trending downward since 2000?

Gold steadied on Wednesday ahead of a raft of U.S. data due later, having earlier risen to four-week highs as a retreat in the dollar and concerns over the medium-term inflation outlook helped support the precious metal.

Emerging markets focused lender, Standard Chartered Bank <2888.HK>, has shuttered its global loans trading unit, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday, ending a unique experiment in Asia, as it moves to focus on lending to clients.

British bank Barclays will review its portfolio and cut costs to boost profitability as it grapples with tougher regulations which it said will lower its returns.

Some banks' credit ratings will be cut as governments make it easier to wind up failing lenders and force debtholders to pay for rescues, rating agency Moody's said on Monday.

De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, returned to a profit in 2010 as production rose 34 percent and diamond prices recovered to pre-crisis levels, although it remains cautious about the market this year.

The deal with Nokia is significant for Microsoft, which is trying hard to capture smartphone market share from the likes of iOS and Android.

It is official. Nokia will be adopting Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 as its new smartphone operating system (OS), a move that could be the beginning of a new era for the Finnish mobile giant.

Wall Street was weighed down by disappointing earnings from Cisco Systems, but stocks bounced off their lows on Thursday as investors saw weakness in the market as a buying opportunity.

U.S. stocks declined in early trade on Thursday despite better-than-expected weekly jobless claims data as disappointing earnings from Cisco Systems weighed on the sentiment.

Wall street was set to open lower on Thursday as disappointing earnings overshadowed stronger-than-expected data on weekly U.S. jobless benefits claims.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Thursday are: Whole Foods, Sprint Nextel, FMC Technologies, Akamai Technologies, Cisco Systems, Credit Suisse, Lennar Corp and PepsiCo.

Qualcomm could be the major beneficiary if Nokia shifts its smartphone operating system strategy.

UBS expects to win more client funds for its wealth management business in 2011 and sees a rebound in the investment banking division whose losses almost felled it in the financial crisis.

UBS returned to a modest profit at its investment bank and struggled to attract new client money to its core wealth management operations, showing chief Oswald Gruebel still has a way to go to turn around the bank.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Friday are: JDS Uniphase, Aetna, PulteGroup, Symantec, Tesoro, Las Vegas Sands, Fiserv and Wynn Resorts.

Nokia's widely speculated transition to a new operating system would benefit rival Research In Motion as it provides an opportunity to expand in international markets.

Market analysts speculate that Nokia would eventually join the Google's Android or Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 ecosystem.

European institutions received 85,262 score reports from people who took the GMAT® exam in testing year 2010 (July 2009-June 2010); we look at the top 5 countries in Europe that are attracting MBA aspirants from around the world.

Credit Suisse said the civil unrest in Egypt and Tunisia could have positive implications on nitrogen and phosphate prices, as Egypt is a key supplier of urea while Tunisia is a major supplier of phosphate rock and fertilizer products.

World stocks punched fresh 29-month highs on Wednesday, lifted by strong data pointing to sustained global economic recovery, continuing positive corporate earnings and easing concerns about Egypt.

Annual bonuses at top global banks are causing ructions that could drive a outsized round of defections as weaker profits and tougher rules widen the pay discrepancy between star performers and everybody else.

Wall Street resumed its rally on Monday, led by natural resources and tech shares as investors saw stocks regaining momentum lost late last week.