Most Emailed Business News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Sunday gave its stamp of approval to the takeover of Wachovia Corp by Wells Fargo & Co of San Francisco, which had battled New York-based Citigroup for ownership of the wounded bank.

NEW YORK - Trillions in stock market value — gone. Trillions in retirement savings — gone. A huge chunk of the money you paid for your house, the money you're saving for college, the money your boss needs to make payroll — gone, gone, gone.

An inflatable gorilla beckoned from the roof of Don Brown Chevrolet in St. Louis, servers doled out free bowls of pasta and a salesman urged potential customers to "come on up under the canopy and put your hands on" a new set of wheels.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top executives at American International Group Inc knew of potential problems in valuing derivatives contracts, known as credit default swaps, long before questions about the risky transactions caused its stock to plummet, the Wall Street Journal said, citing documents released by congressional investigators.

WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told international leaders on Sunday that isolationism and protectionism could worsen the spreading financial crisis. With a new trading week dawning, U.S. lawmakers urged quick action by the Bush administration on measures to make direct purchases of bank stock to help unlock lending.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The global economy is drawing closer to a dangerous downward spiral and time may be running out for world leaders to find a way to stop it before it inflicts lasting damage.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, which has watched Morgan Stanley's share price plunge 58 percent last week, is seeking more favorable terms to its $9 billion deal, a person briefed on the matter said.

NEW YORK - Investors agonizing over whether the stock market is bottoming out or about to extend its precipitous decline face more uncertainty this week as they await action on the government's rapidly expanding effort to pull the financial system from the brink.

PARIS (Reuters) - Nations from Europe to Australia rushed out plans on Sunday to shore up their banks, trying to halt a markets crash with pledges to back lending, buy stakes in financial institutions and take other emergency steps.

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors will be seeing this week whether policymakers found a way to pull markets away from a deeper collapse as global capital markets faced complete freeze-up.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures rose on Sunday evening as central bankers and government leaders took steps to solve the financial crisis that has been crippling global markets.

When Apple released its MacBook Pro laptop, reviewers called it an evolutionary improvement and touted its new GeForce 8600 GT mobile graphics processor, made by Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia. Now some models may have faulty chips.

WASHINGTON - Americans' retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months — about 20 percent of their value — Congress' top budget analyst estimated Tuesday as lawmakers began investigating how turmoil in the financial industry is whittling away workers' nest eggs.

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - What's good for General Motors Corp is good for the country.

DETROIT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chrysler LLC has had talks with General Motors Corp about a deal to combine the No. 1 and No. 3 American automakers at a time when both are struggling to cut costs and shore up cash, according to three people familiar with the matter.