IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stocks slid on Friday, with bank shares leading the way, after JPMorgan Chase & Co reported deep fourth-quarter loan losses that raised concerns about earnings for the pivotal industry.

Bank of America Corp and Capital One Financial Corp reported jumps in U.S. credit card charge-offs for December, suggesting consumers were stressed through the holiday shopping season.

The chairman of Volvo, the world's second biggest truck maker, resigned on Friday in what analysts said was a surprising move just three months away from the firm's annual general meeting.

Brazilian mining giant Vale said on Friday it plans to expand its fertilizer business with a $3.8 billion takeover of Bunge assets in the country, making its largest bet so far on a surge in demand for potash as global food consumption grows.

Siemens and ThyssenKrupp are set to be the first big German companies to give shareholders a vote on executive pay, broadening the debate in a country where many managers have fought hard to keep their salary a secret.

The research suggests that while it is still rare to prescribe powerful psychiatric drugs to 2-year-olds, the practice is becoming more frequent.

The U.S. State Department said on Friday it will soon give China a formal diplomatic message expressing its concern about cyber attacks that prompted Google Inc to threaten to pull out of China.

The latest voluntary recall followed consumer reports of an unusual moldy, musty, or mildew-like odor that, in a small number of cases, was associated with temporary and non-serious gastrointestinal events, the company said. Such events included nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea.

Curbs on carbon dioxide emissions from new cars should be reviewed and possibly tightened as they may be insufficiently ambitious, the nominee for European Union climate commissioner said on Friday.

Suzuki Motor Corp is keen to take a stake in Volkswagen AG soon, as the European automaker looks for shareholders willing to sell to Suzuki, the head of the Japanese firm said on Friday.

Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea's top automaker, said it planned to raise investment by 12 percent this year to its largest ever to develop eco-friendly models, and as it aims to boost global sales volume by 17 percent.

JPMorgan Chase & Co reported deep losses on mortgage and credit card loans in the fourth quarter, dashing hopes that consumer credit is on the mend and sending the bank's shares down 2.1 percent.

A crisis tax proposed by the Obama administration would cut substantially into bank earnings across Europe and could sidetrack the sector's recovery, analysts and industry officials said Friday.

Verizon Wireless said on Friday that the company is raising its prices for data services like mobile Web surfing to increase revenue and profits.

Six al Qaeda militants were killed in an air strike in northern Yemen on Friday in a stepped-up campaign by the Yemeni government against the Islamist militant group.

JPMorgan Beats Views; Detroit's High Tech Cars; Mobile Leaders Sued

Wall Street stumbled on Friday, weighed by banking stocks after disappointing results from JPMorgan Chase & Co set a gloomy tone for the coming week's earnings.

Quebec's power utility is teaming up with Mitsubishi Motors to road test the performance of up to 50 all-electric vehicles against the rigors of the Canadian climate and measure their infrastructure needs.

U.S. consumer prices rose modestly last month while a cold snap lifted industrial output, suggesting the economy was growing but not generating enough inflation to trouble the Federal Reserve.

The head of the Senate Banking Committee may scrap the idea of creating a consumer financial protection agency, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday citing people familiar with the matter.

Technology company Intel Corp will receive some additional business from the German car industry and heavy machinery sector in the coming years, its head of German operations said.

Google Inc jolted investors and China this week by threatening to quit the Communist Party-run nation over censorship and hacking, and both sides are tight-lipped about what they expect to happen next.

A potential deep cut in feed-in tariffs in Germany will hit solar companies around the world and increases pressure on large players to reduce exposure to the world's largest photovoltaic market.

China's population of Internet users jumped by nearly a third to 384 million at the end of last year, an official report showed on Friday, days after Google threatened to retreat from the expanding market.

U.S. industrial production rose in line with expectations in December as electric and gas utilities stepped up output in an unusually cold month, a Federal Reserve report showed on Friday.

Chinese commercial banks' non-performing loans fell by 62.98 billion yuan to 497.33 billion yuan ($72.85 billion) in 2009, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement on Friday.

Two people were killed and six wounded on Friday when separatist guerrillas threw grenades and opened fire at a police station in Indian Kashmir, police and witnesses said.

U.S. consumer sentiment was little changed in early January, as worries over income and high unemployment offset news of an improving economy, a survey released on Friday showed.

Iran will soon try 16 people arrested in connection with anti-government protests that turned violent last month, an Iranian news agency reported on Friday.