INVESTMENT

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.

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

U.S. stocks extended a rout on Friday after a top U.S. senator confirmed the market's worse fears, saying it may be necessary to nationalize some banks, as the S&P 500 closed in on an almost 12-year low. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said the nationalization of some banks could be needed at least for a short time, according to a Bloomberg report. The S&P briefly...

U.S. Treasury debt prices gained on Friday as deepening anxiety about the fragile state of the banking system pummelled financial stocks, sending investors scrambling into comparatively safe government debt.

U.S. stocks fell on Friday, pinning the Dow to levels not seen for more than six years, as investors worried that a financial sector rescue might involve nationalization of major banks, wiping out shareholders. The mounting fear sent investors scurrying to the relative safety of U.S. government bonds and gold, which rose briefly above $1,000 an ounce. Shares of Bank of America fell...

U.S. stocks fell on Friday, pinning the Dow to levels not seen for more than six years, as investors worried that a financial sector rescue might involve nationalization of major banks, wiping out shareholders. The mounting fear sent investors scurrying to the relative safety of U.S. government bonds and gold, which rose briefly above $1,000 an ounce. Shares of Bank of America fell...

they are sidelining the dollar strength, sidelining deflationary concerns and lower oil prices. They are very much buying gold as a safe-haven asset, Cooper said. There is potential for us to breach the $1,000 level. Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen said the deteriorating macroeconomic picture and inflows into exchange-traded funds were currently the main influences on the gold price, n...

Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc shares plummeted for a sixth straight day on Friday, hammered by fears that the U.S. government could nationalize the banks, wiping out shareholders.

U.S. stocks headed for a drop at Friday's opening that would extend a rout which has pulled the Dow Jones industrials to a fresh bear-market low, as worries about the fate of major banks escalated. Fears that the U.S. government's bank rescue plan might involve nationalization and that the recession is worsening had investors scurrying toward the relative safety of U.S. government bonds as stoc...

making the Alpine state the world's biggest offshore center. Tax-dodging schemes are increasingly under attack by governments scrambling to find revenue needed to finance the soaring costs of government stimulus programs. John Christensen, director of the Tax Justice Network which campaigns against bank secrecy, said he also saw a dramatic shift in public opinion against tax havens. It is c...

Google Inc is famous for pampering its employees, but some shareholders feel like they're getting a raw deal.

Bank of America Corp Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis was subpoenaed last week by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is investigating whether the bank violated state law by withholding information from investors, the Wall Street Journal said late Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Shares in Swiss banks dived on Friday amid concern the country's once strict privacy rules are being weakened by a U.S. tax probe into UBS, potentially damaging the country's wealth management industry. Swiss wealth management giant UBS was leading the fall in Swiss bank shares. It was down 17 percent at 5:07 a.m. EST after hitting a fresh all-time low at 10.60 Swiss francs.

Stock futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Friday ahead of U.S. CPI figures and results from J.C. Penny and Lowe's Companies. * At 5 a.m. EST, futures for the S&P 500 were down 1.6 percent, Dow Jones futures were down 1.7 percent and Nasdaq 100 were down 1.4 percent. * J.C. Penny releases Q4 results and analysts expect the company to earn 92 cents a share, excluding items, down...