IBT Staff Reporter

Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis told investors in September he was pleased to acquire Merrill Lynch & Co's world-class investment bank -- but as losses there mount, he may just let that key part of its business wither.

If the government gives more help to Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc in the near term, it will likely stop short of nationalization, even if a full takeover would be best for the banking system.

The global economy may be deteriorating even faster than it did during the Great Depression, Paul Volcker, a top adviser to President Barack Obama, said on Friday.

This weekend Zimbabwe's president turns 85 and he looks forward to lavish celebrations next week while the children are left to starve and more than half the population is being fed by international aid.

is not happening in this merger. Mattera said San Francisco-based Wells Fargo is taking other steps to retain brokers, including higher payouts through Wachovia Securities' 4front client loyalty program. He also said Wells Fargo plans in May to change Wachovia Securities' name to Wells Fargo Advisors. Prudential Financial Inc has a 38 percent stake in Wachovia Securities,...

Diversified U.S. manufacturer United Technologies Corp reduced the pay of its top two executives last year, but continued to pay bonuses to all its top officials as profit rose in a recessionary environment. The world's largest maker of elevators and air conditioners awarded new chief executive Louis Chenevert compensation worth $18 million, 13.5 percent less than the $20.8 million...

Bank of America Corp shares sank below $3 and Citigroup Inc tumbled below $2 on Friday, hammered by growing fears that the U.S. government could nationalize the banks, wiping out shareholders.

Bears could have the upper hand again next week if Wall Street fails to get assurance that major banks can be rescued without being seized by the U.S. government.

said in a statement the customer accounts were frozen until legal claims could be sorted out. Also, a federal judge presiding over the Stanford case, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, was recused because a relative has substantial Stanford holdings, according to a court filing. The Stanford scandal, hard on the heels of allegations that Wall Street veteran Bernard Madoff carried out a $50...

Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.

Royal Bank of Scotland Plc is set to unveil up to 20,000 job losses next week as part of tough cost-cutting targets, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

Tech icon Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple and helped popularize personal computing, is obviously unafraid to try new things. His latest venture is competing in Dancing with the Stars, ABC's reality TV show which returns for an eighth season on March 9.

The United States ambassador to Kyrgyzstan received an eviction notice demanding Washington close its military air base in the country and depart the country within 6 months.

Regulators seized on Friday Texas billionaire Allen Stanford's banks and companies in Antigua and Barbuda, the Caribbean state at the center of fraud charges against him, as the financier surrendered his passport to U.S. authorities. Antigua's government, which in 2006 gave Stanford a knighthood, and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank announced the takeovers after a rush by depositors this week...

Stocks tumbled on Friday, with the Dow industrials ending at a 6-1/2-year low, on fears the government may be forced to nationalize some big banks. Uncertainty about how Washington will rescue beleaguered banks persisted even as the White House issued its most direct statement yet on banks, saying it supported a privately held banking system. The S&P 500 had plunged close to a 12-year low be...

Shares of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc sank Friday to their lowest level in 5-1/2 years amid concern the insurance and investment company could suffer big losses from bets on world stock markets and U.S. banks. Berkshire's Class A shares fell as much as 6.2 percent to their lowest level since August 2003, before regaining some ground after the White Hous...

Two Tamil Tiger planes launched a defiant air raid on Sri Lanka's capital Colombo on Friday, killing two people and injuring 40 when one crash-landed onto a government building.

UBS AG warned Friday that it could go out of business if it complied with an order to reveal the names of thousands of suspected U.S. tax dodgers with secret offshore accounts at the Swiss bank. In papers filed in federal court in Miami, attorneys for UBS said a U.S. government lawsuit filed Thursday could force it to violate Swiss criminal law by turning over inform...

Stocks tumbled on Friday, with the Dow industrials closing at a 6-1/2-year low, on fears the government may be forced to nationalize some big banks even as the White House said it supports a privately held banking system. Fears that some major banks could be taken over by the government had driven the S&P 500 close to a 12-year low before the White House issued its most direct statement yet o...

A U.S. appeals court ruled Friday that a California law restricting the sales and rental of violent video games to minors and imposing labeling requirements is too restrictive and violates free speech guarantees. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the labeling requirement unfairly forces video games to carry the state's controversial opinion about which games are violent. Th...

The Dow and the S&P 500 fell on Friday, pummeled by worries about the lack of details on the U.S. government's bank rescue plan, though the S&P pulled back from the brink of a 12-year low after the White House said it supported a privately held banking system. Fears that some major banks could be nationalized had earlier driven the Dow to more than six-year lows. The White House made its...

Oil prices fell on Friday as the deteriorating global economic outlook continued to weigh on the market. U.S. crude futures for March delivery, which expired on Friday, settled at $38.94 a barrel, down 54 cents, after posting the biggest settlement gain since December 31 in the previous session. April Brent crude settled at $41.89 a barrel, down 10 cents. Right now, oil is being driven by the...

Shares of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc sank Friday to their lowest level in 5-1/2 years amid concern about big potential losses from bets on world stock markets and U.S. banks. Berkshire's Class A shares fell as much as 6.2 percent to $73,750, their lowest level since August 2003, before rebounding after the White House said it strongly believed the U.S....

A senior Democratic lawmaker will push legislation this year to repeal a U.S. ban on Internet gambling that has hurt trade ties with the European Union, a congressional aide said.

and it's getting worse, said Nouriel Roubini, a prominent New York University economist who forecast much of the credit and housing recession. The cost of insuring $10 million of Citigroup debt for five years rose to $475,000 annually from $405,000 on Thursday, according to data from Phoenix Partners Group. The cost of insuring Bank of America debt rose to $275,000 a year from $245,000. S...

The White House said on Friday it strongly believed in a privately held bank system, after rumors that the U.S. government could nationalize banks caused shares in Bank of America and Citigroup plummet. Let me reassure as best I can on banks, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told a briefing with reporters. This administration continues to strongly believe that a privately held bank...

A U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that a California law restricting the sales and rental of violent video games to minors and imposing labeling requirements is too restrictive and violates free speech guarantees. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the labeling requirement unfairly forces video games to carry the state's controversial opinion about which games are violent. ...

Gold rose above $1,000 an ounce on Friday for the first time since March last year as nervous investors piled into the yellow metal to preserve wealth amid a tumbling stock market. Long-term inflation worries fanned by the massive U.S. economic stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama this week has driven investors into gold, which is perceived as the most likely asset to hold its value ...

General Motors Corp's European brands are near collapse, with Germany's Opel in need of more state funding and the Swedish government rejecting Saab's plea for state aid until its business plan was sound. Filing for protection from creditors on Friday, Saab said it would present a reorganization proposal within three weeks while court filings revealed it estimates its losses in 20...