BARACK OBAMA

Congressional Democrats are very close to reaching final agreement on healthcare reform legislation and could have a deal in days, House of Representatives Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer said on Friday.

Total pay at U.S. banks and securities companies jumped nearly 18 percent to a record $145 billion in 2009, the Wall Street Journal estimated in an analysis published in its online edition on Thursday.

The U.S. unemployment rate, currently at 10 percent, is unlikely to drop below 8 percent before 2012 unless Congress takes further steps to boost the economy in the short term, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said on Thursday.

No sooner does Washington propose a new tax than an army of experts tries to figure out ways to avoid it.

U.S. regulators admitted to failing to head off the 2008 financial crisis as they appeared before a panel whose chairman said he plans to seek testimony from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

President Barack Obama on Thursday proposed Wall Street banks pay up to $117 billion to reimburse taxpayers for the financial bailout, as he slammed bankers for their massive profits and obscene bonuses.

U.S. consumers unexpectedly curbed their Christmas spending in December and more people filed claims for jobless benefits last week, casting fresh doubts on the durability of the economic recovery once government support fades.

President Barack Obama pledged $100 million for Haiti relief aid on Thursday and enlisted the help of two former U.S. presidents, promising Haitians: You will not be forsaken.

U.S. regulators admitted to failing to head off the 2008 financial crisis as they appeared before a panel whose chairman said he plans to seek testimony from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

President Barack Obama made Haiti relief efforts a top priority for the U.S. government on Thursday.

U.S. stocks traded flat to slightly higher on Thursday as upcoming earnings from Intel Corp spurred interest in technology shares, though gains were limited by an unexpected drop in December retail sales.

A senior U.S. envoy told the Palestinian president on Thursday that Washington is working hard to find a way to broker a resumption of peace talks with Israel, a senior Palestinian official said.

U.S. consumers curbed their Christmas spending in December and more people filed claims for jobless benefits last week, casting fresh doubts on whether the economic recovery can last once government support fades.

President Barack Obama proposed a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee on Thursday to make big banks and other financial institutions repay taxpayer funds that helped bail them out during the financial crisis.

President Barack Obama is set to announce this morning a 'financial crisis responsibility fee' that may generate $90 to $120 billion dollars for tax payers over the next 10 years, the White House said late Wednesday, according to media reports.

President Barack Obama on Thursday will propose major U.S. financial firms pay a fee to protect taxpayers from up to $117 billion in losses on a bank bailout that has spurred fury at Wall Street excess.

Financial regulators, lulled into inaction by soaring bank and Wall Street profits, failed to protect Americans from the 2008 financial crisis, a senior U.S. official told an investigative panel on Thursday.

In their first face-to-face talks on merging health bills in the Senate and House of Representatives, Democratic leaders worked through differences on how to pay for the overhaul, how to structure new insurance exchanges and a host of other issues.

Stock index futures dipped on Thursday as investors awaited quarterly results from technology bellwether Intel, a day after the Dow industrials rose to a fresh 15-month high.

Senior U.S. regulators, including outspoken Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair, will tell their side of the story on Thursday to a commission examining the origins of the 2008 financial crisis.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.11 percent, Dow Jones futures unchanged and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.11 percent at 4 a.m. EST.