MORGAN STANLEY

The lawmakers of House Financial Service Committee on Wednesday are holding a hearing with chief executive officers of eight banks that received injections of capital from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The company is splitting to ultimately reduce its overall mission to two areas only: wholesale banking for large corporate clients and retail banking, according to the Wall Street Journal

Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley may announce a deal this week that could combine their brokerages to create a new company, the latest move in a financial services industry which has begun consolidating businesses wracked by heavy losses tied to mortgages, according to media reports.

U.S. stocks were mixed on Monday, dragged lower by financial shares on concern there could be more credit losses and while record oil prices topped $143 a barrel.

U.S. stocks fell for the second day on Wednesday after economic bellwether FedEx Corp. released disappointing results and reinforced concern over bank losses.

Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. had their credit ratings cut on Monday by Standard & Poor's on concerns that continued weakness in the sector could lead to more write-offs.

Financial sector stocks fell on Friday, despite gains from the leading U.S. insurer, American International Group.

Morgan Stanley downgraded Sun Microsystems on Friday, saying the computer hardware and software maker is at risk as demand shifts downstream and pricing pressure increase.

The total jobs Morgan Stanley cut this week could get close to 2,000 jobs. A report said Morgan cut 1,500 jobs this week, but few affected employees have not been notified yet, media reports said on Friday.

AT&T Inc is testing its current wireless network to deliver faster speeds ahead of the launch of its next generation wireless standard.

Google confirmed Morgan Stanley's director as its new chief information officer (CIO).

Intrepid Potash Inc, which produces the potassium compound for fertilizer, jumped more than 60 percent on its first day on the open market as investors bet on a boom for agricultural products.

Wall Street rose for the first time in three days on Thursday as investors bought back into stocks after two days of losses, after reports showed a drop in unemployment claims and a better-than-expected sales performance by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Treasury prices rose on Wednesday as stocks fell and the financial sector showed additional signs of trouble.

Morgan Stanley's Chief Executive John Mack said on Tuesday the company's board members, unanimously re-elected by shareholders today, are focused on getting the company back on track.

Frank Quattrone, the controversial financier who rose to stardom during the dot-com boom in the 1990's has announced his long-awaited return to finance with the formation of a new advisory firm.

Apple is planning to hold a press event at its headquarters on Thursday and comments made as recently as Wednesday suggest the company will make its iPhone more popular with enterprise users.

Goldman Sachs said it expects additional writedowns of about $1 billion to $12 billion each for several major U.S. brokers in the first quarter, with Citigroup estimated to record the highest amount of about $12 billion.

Shareholders in Seven Bank Ltd, which operates ATMs in convenience stores owned by Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd, raised $481 million after its IPO was priced at the top of its projected range, as investors rattled by the subprime crisis embraced its low-risk business model.

Inflation accelerated in January in a worrying sign for the Federal Reserve's campaign to bolster the flagging economy, while a separate report on Wednesday showed more troubling signs for beleaguered housing market.

Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. and Credit Suisse Group are cutting over 1,640 jobs, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported.