Wen Warns of 'Double Dip' Recession
13 Mar 2010, 8:47 pm

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao warned other countries not to pressure China over its exchange-rate policy, and argued strongly that the yuan is not undervalued.

New York Times Brings Another Family Member Into the Fold
13 Mar 2010, 7:29 pm

Another member of the family that controls New York Times has been brought in to help run the business, this time on the digital side of the Times newspaper.

Dodd Bill To Toughen Stance on Banks
13 Mar 2010, 7:14 pm

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd is finalizing a bill to rework financial market rules that is expected to be tougher against banks than previously expected.

Four Released in Ireland Terror Case
13 Mar 2010, 6:51 pm

Irish police on Saturday evening said they have now released all three women who were among seven individuals arrested earlier this week in connection with an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist.

Investigation Raises Questions on Prius Incident
13 Mar 2010, 4:09 pm

A federal safety investigation of the Toyota Prius that was involved in a dramatic incident on a California highway last week found a particular pattern of wear on the car's brakes that raises questions about the driver's version of the event, three people familiar with the investigation said.

Mom: Paulin-Ramirez Drifted Away
13 Mar 2010, 1:30 pm

The mother of Jamie Paulin-Ramirez described how her daughter began to drift away a year ago, ultimately ending up in custody in Ireland and linked to an alleged plot to kill a cartoonist who satirized the Prophet Mohammed.

Obama Outlines 'No Child' Rewrite
13 Mar 2010, 11:37 am

The Obama administration plans to upend how the government measures and encourages success in the country's public schools as part of a sweeping proposal to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law.

Repos Key in Lehman Demise
13 Mar 2010, 10:26 am

The bank's scramble to stay alive exposed the murky but crucial role that short-term lending, done in a corner of Wall Street known as the repo market, plays in the financial world.

The Professor Who Chases Financial Bubbles
13 Mar 2010, 9:34 am

Didier Sornette's bubble experiment tries to identify four developing bubbles and forecast when they'll peak.

Li Envoys to Probe Beijing Land Block
13 Mar 2010, 6:29 am

Executives who work with tycoon Richard Li have been sent to Beijing to find out more about why municipal authorities there declared that Mr. Li's companies would be banned from dealing in the city's land market.

Work and Play: Sports Venture Eyes India
12 Mar 2010, 10:02 pm

Sports-marketing giant IMG Worldwide and Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries have set up a joint venture to build a professional sports business in India.

Lions Gate Criticizes Icahn Offer
12 Mar 2010, 7:48 pm

Lions Gate urged shareholders to reject a recent tender offer from investor Carl Icahn, calling the bid for the film studio's shares inadequate and coercive.

Disney to Cut Film-Production Venture
12 Mar 2010, 6:23 pm

Walt Disney will close director Robert Zemeckis's film-production company next year amid efforts to cut costs.

Colorado Mom Arrested in Terror Plot Case
12 Mar 2010, 6:08 pm

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a 31-year-old mom, is in the custody of Irish police, along with six others, arrested as part of a probe into the alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who made fun of the Prophet Mohammed.

Park Avenue Bank and Two Others Fail
12 Mar 2010, 5:57 pm

The failures on Friday bring to 30 the total number of financial institutions that have been seized in the U.S. this year.

Sarkozy Accuses U.S. of Protectionism
12 Mar 2010, 4:57 pm

French President Nicolas Sarkozy accused the U.S. of protectionism on Friday as political tensions heightened over a controversial $40 billion military-aircraft deal.

Pope Knew of Sex-Offender Priest
12 Mar 2010, 4:45 pm

A burgeoning sex-abuse scandal among German priests escalated with a disclosure by Pope Benedict XVI's former archdiocese, which said a priest known to the church as a sex abuser had been returned to pastoral work there while Benedict was the presiding archbishop in 1980.

Economy Gets Boost From Consumer Spending
12 Mar 2010, 4:27 pm

A string of surprisingly strong corporate earnings reports and economic data show that U.S. consumers have emerged from a long hibernation to start spending again on everything from new TVs and restaurant meals to spring outfits.

MCM's Eastern Makeover
12 Mar 2010, 4:18 pm

MCM epitomizedglamour...in the 1980s. Now an ambitious South Korean businesswoman is attempting to resurrect the faded luxury brand.

Apple's Cook Gets $22 Million Bonus
12 Mar 2010, 3:31 pm

Apple Chief Operating Officer Timothy Cook was awarded a cash and stock bonus worth about $22 million for his performance while filling in during Chief Executive Steve Jobs's medical leave last year.

WaMu Dispute Gets Settled
12 Mar 2010, 2:36 pm

A lingering chapter of the 2008 financial crisis closed Friday when Washington Mutual, J.P. Morgan and federal regulators settled a dispute over billions of dollars in assets.

BofA Agrees to Be More Transparent With Donations
12 Mar 2010, 2:09 pm

New York City Comptroller John C. Liu has scored a coup in an ongoing national effort to increase corporate transparency after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a century-old ban on corporate political spending.

Lehman Shows Benefits of Scrutiny
12 Mar 2010, 1:51 pm

The report by the court-appointed examiner for the bankrupt Lehman Brothers analyzes the bank's demise with forensic thoroughness. But it is also a depressing reminder of how much remains unknown about the near-collapses of AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Citigroup, Bear Stearns and Bank of America's Merrill Lynch.

"Cash for keys" aids home borrowers, investors (Reuters)
12 Mar 2010, 12:21 pm

Reuters - Jon Daurio, chief executive officer of mortgage investor Kondaur Capital Corp., recently offered a $4,000 check to Barry Culver for the deed to his Bryan, Ohio house.

Fannie Mae to offer $6b in notes (AP)
11 Mar 2010, 1:48 pm

AP - Fannie Mae on Thursday said it will offer $6 billion of new 3-year notes due May 7, 2013.

Commercial delinquency lower than other mortgages (AP)
9 Mar 2010, 12:41 pm

AP - Commercial mortgages were among the best-performing loans and leases held by banks and thrifts in the fourth quarter of last year, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Tuesday.

Management Education on the Fly (BusinessWeek)
9 Mar 2010, 6:08 am

BusinessWeek - Who got us into this mess? It's not just greedy mortgage lenders and irresponsible economists who are responsible for the current financial crisis. Leaders, so called, have played a role too, by not managing their companies and so being detached from what was going on in them. And behind much of this has been an educational process that encouraged such detachment. As I've argued at length in my book, Managers not MBAs, the MBA is fine education -- but in the functions of business, not the exercise of managing. ...

Summary Box: AIG's $15.5B Alico sale to MetLife (AP)
8 Mar 2010, 4:11 pm

AP - THE SALE: American International Group Inc. sold its American Life Insurance Co. division, or Alico, to MetLife Inc. for $15.5 billion. The deal is AIG's second big asset sale in two weeks. On March 1, it said it would sell its AIA Group unit to Prudential PLC for $35.5 billion.

AIG sells Alico unit to MetLife for $15.5 billion (AP)
8 Mar 2010, 3:33 pm

AP - American International Group Inc. said Monday that it will sell its American Life Insurance Co. division for $15.5 billion to MetLife Inc. The government-approved deal, AIG's second big asset sale in two weeks, will give the insurer more cash to repay the billions of bailout dollars it still owes the government.

MetLife seals Alico deal after two-year quest (Reuters)
8 Mar 2010, 2:22 pm

Reuters - MetLife Inc pursued AIG's foreign life insurance business for two years before finally clinching a $15.5 billion purchase that will give it beachheads in 47 nations from Peru to Bangladesh.

Is Bank of America a Buy? (The Motley Fool)
8 Mar 2010, 12:50 pm

The Motley Fool - With the recent auction of Treasury's Bank of America (NYSE: BAC - News) warrants, the big bank joins Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS - News), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS - News), and several other banks in completing its exit from TARP. But, is it a buy?

AIG set for $15.5 bln deal with MetLife: report (AFP)
8 Mar 2010, 2:46 am

AFP - US insurance giants American International Group and MetLife will on Monday announce a $15.5 billion deal for AIG's second-largest foreign life-insurance business, The Wall Street Journal reported.

AIG to get $231M if sale of Asian unit crumbles (AP)
6 Mar 2010, 10:29 am

AP - American International Group Inc. will receive a termination fee of $230.6 million if the sale of its Asian life insurance business to Britain's Prudential PLC falls through.

Consumer borrowing up in January after 11 declines (AP)
5 Mar 2010, 3:11 pm

AP - Consumer borrowing broke a record stretch of declines with a small increase in January as a boost in auto loans offset continued weakness in credit card borrowing.

Consumer credit posts first rise in a year (Reuters)
5 Mar 2010, 2:59 pm

Reuters - Total U.S. consumer credit rose $4.96 billion in January, its first rise in a year and the largest for any month since mid-2008, Federal Reserve data showed on Friday.

US consumer credit rises first time in a year (AFP)
5 Mar 2010, 2:52 pm

AFP - Borrowings by Americans rose for the first time in a year in January, the Federal Reserve said Friday in a sign that the US economic recovery is on track.

Treasury restates support for Fannie, Freddie (AP)
5 Mar 2010, 2:51 pm

AP - The Treasury Department was forced Friday to reiterate its financial support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after a key lawmaker rattled investors by pointing out that their debt does not enjoy the explicit guarantee of the federal government.

Wall St rallies on jobs data, consumer credit (Reuters)
5 Mar 2010, 2:41 pm

Reuters - Stocks jumped and the Nasdaq hit an 18-month closing high on Friday as U.S. employers cut fewer jobs than expected last month and consumers showed signs of shedding their penny-pinching ways.

Summary Box: Consumer borrowing up in January (AP)
5 Mar 2010, 2:37 pm

AP - BORROWING UP: Consumer credit rose by $4.96 billion in January, breaking a record string of 11 consecutive declines.

Lawmaker is working to improve loan modifications (AP)
5 Mar 2010, 12:23 pm

AP - A key lawmaker is working with banks, regulators and the Obama administration on a new way to boost the government's struggling foreclosure prevention effort by encouraging banks to reduce the total amount borrowers owe.

Upper-income households report less distress (Reuters)
5 Mar 2010, 7:48 am

Reuters - Sentiment of U.S. households in the top fifth of the income distribution improved in early 2010 compared with 2009, but worries over personal finances persist, a survey showed on Friday.

Behind the Buzz About Mint (BusinessWeek)
5 Mar 2010, 6:08 am

BusinessWeek - In Mint.com's creation story, as recounted on its Web site, founder Aaron Patzer started the free online personal finance service after a tedious session with Intuit's (NasdaqGS:INTU - News) Quicken budgeting software in 2005. It's a measure of Mint's success that any new complaints about Quicken should now be directed to Patzer himself. Tired of getting its clock cleaned by Mint, Intuit bought the site in 2009 and put Patzer in charge of its entire consumer finance operation. He must figure out how all the pieces will fit together -- while rejuvenating Intuit's aged Quicken franchise.

Equity One reports jump in profit during 4Q (AP)
4 Mar 2010, 5:46 pm

AP - Shopping center owner Equity One Inc. said Thursday it posted a 71 percent increase in fourth-quarter funds from operations, reporting higher revenue and an income tax benefit.