INVESTMENT

World stocks steadied on Wednesday as a mixed set of key corporate earnings injected caution among investors about the state of the economy, encouraging them to buy the low-yielding dollar and yen.

Dow Jones futures were down 0.5 percent at 0920 GMT, S&P 500 futures off 0.7 percent and Nasdaq futures off 0.5 percent, suggesting a softer start for U.S. stocks on Wednesday.

New York City's pension funds are probing whether private equity fund Quadrangle intentionally misled it about placement agents used to win pension fund business, a spokesman for the city's comptroller said Tuesday.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn took exception with Amylin management's statement that he wants to engineer a prompt sale of the biotechnology company to its diabetes drug partner, Eli Lilly and Co , and said he would not consider a sale below $30 per share.

U.S. Bancorp , one of the 10 largest U.S. banks, reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday on record revenue from mortgages, sending its shares up almost 21 percent.

Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Vikram Pandit pledged to repay every dollar the third-largest U.S. bank owes to the government, which has pumped $45 billion of capital into the bank.

Stocks rose on Tuesday after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner indicated most banks have sufficient reserves to protect against possible losses, sparking a rebound in bank shares.

The Connecticut state treasurer told beleaguered Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis on Tuesday she will be voting against his re-election at the bank's upcoming shareholder meeting.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday on concerns about the state of corporate profits after several major U.S. companies reported disappointing quarterly results and even cloudier outlooks.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday on concerns about the state of corporate profits after several major U.S. companies reported disappointing quarterly results and even cloudier outlooks.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday on concerns about the state of corporate profits after Bank of New York Mellon cut its quarterly dividend and DuPont warned of weak demand ahead.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, Nasdaq and S&P 500 share indexes are up between 0.3 and 0.5 percent, pointing to a higher start on Wall Street.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he would consider the health of the financial system and the flow of credit in deciding whether banks can repay bailout funds from the government, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Zions Bancorp on Monday posted a big quarterly loss because of a write-down and commercial real estate losses, prompting Moody's Investors Service to downgrade it deep into junk status and warn that the large western U.S. bank could become undercapitalized.

A surge of troubled loans overshadowed better-than-expected earnings at Bank of America Corp, and the largest U.S. bank said it expects the credit situation to worsen, driving its shares down 24.3 percent.

Stocks slid on Monday on concerns over the sustainability of recent better-than-expected results from banks after Bank of America Corp reported a big increase in troubled loans.

Stocks slid on Monday on concerns over the sustainability of recent better-than-expected results from banks after Bank of America Corp reported a big increase in troubled loans. Wall Street's tumble follows a six-week winning streak, the longest for the S&P 500 since 2007, with the Dow scoring its biggest gain over the period since 1938.

Swiss banking UBS AG said Monday it plans to sell its Brazilian unit for £1.7 billion or $2.5 billion to BTG investments to boost up its capital in the current economic crisis.

The U.S. Treasury said on Monday there was no basis for a report that said its stress tests on the health of the nation's 19 top banks showed several were technically insolvent.

A surge in troubled loans overshadowed better-than-expected earnings at Bank of America Corp, and the largest U.S. bank expects the credit situation to worsen, driving its shares down 17 percent.

Stocks tumbled on Monday on worries about the sustainability of recent better-than-expected results from banks after Bank of America Corp reported a big increase in troubled loans.