S&P expects US lawsuit over its mortgage ratings

WASHINGTON | The U.S. government is expected to file civil charges against Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, alleging it improperly gave high ratings to mortgage debt that later plunged in value and helped fuel the 2008 financial crisis.

Will retailers rebound after weak holiday season?

WASHINGTON | As signs emerge that holiday sales this year grew at the weakest pace since 2008, investors are dumping retail stocks. Analysts are crowing about the missing "consumer engine" without which the economy may stagnate.

U.S. stocks waterlogged by Sandy's mounting costs

Waterlogged from Superstorm Sandy and unmoved by a solid October jobs report, U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 139 points as details about the storm's costs began to trickle out.

Calif. man close to settling mortgage scam charge

WASHINGTON | The government's consumer finance watchdog is in talks to settle charges that a California businessman falsely promised to help lower homeowners' monthly mortgage payments.

Dow 13,000 is a big number, but it's just a number

Big, round numbers are hard to ignore. That's why we pay attention when the odometer clicks over to 100,000 miles, and why the world threw a party at the dawn of 2000 instead of the technical start of the millennium in 2001.

Claims lowest since April '08 as job market improves

In the latest sign that the economy is surging at year's end, unemployment claims have dropped to the lowest level since April 2008, long before anyone realized that the nation was in a recession.

U.S. stock futures fall as debt talks near collapse

Stock futures fell early Monday amid reports that a key congressional committee will fail to reach an agreement this week on how to cut the U.S. government's budget deficit.

Deep spending cuts pose a new threat to U.S. economy

WASHINGTON | Just as the U.S. economy is making progress despite Europe's turmoil, here come two new threats.

Low-income prepaid-card users facing higher fees

WASHINGTON | Millions of poor Americans who use prepaid debit cards could soon face higher fees.

Stock futures up ahead of unemployment claims data

NEW YORK (AP) — Stock futures are pointed higher as traders await economic reports that could signal the relative strength of the U.S. economic recovery.

Financial Overhaul 101: Protecting U.S. consumers

WASHINGTON (AP) - Unsafe consumer loans for mortgages and credit cards were at the heart of the financial crisis. Banks handed out loans to people who couldn't afford them. The banks ended up with trillions in bad debt.

SEC: Regulators yet to determine cause of plunge

WASHINGTON | The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission told a congressional panel Tuesday that regulators need more time to figure out what caused last week's stock market plunge.

GOP ramps up attacks on SEC over porn surfing

WASHINGTON | Republicans are stepping up their criticism of the Securities and Exchange Commission following reports that senior agency staffers spent hours surfing pornographic websites on government-issued computers while they were supposed to be policing the nation's financial system.

SEC's probe of Goldman could widen to other banks

NEW YORK | Goldman Sachs stepped up its defense against civil fraud charges Monday, telling clients it did not withhold information in a complex transaction involving risky mortgage securities. But a big question was: Will other big investment banks face similar charges?

Ex-Citi exec says he warned Rubin on mortgage risk

WASHINGTON | A former mortgage executive from Citigroup Inc. has accused bank executives of violating their own risk management policies and ignoring his warnings about the coming financial crisis.

Industrial production rises 0.1 percent in Feb

WASHINGTON | Industrial production edged up 0.1 percent in February, beating expectations and marking the eighth straight monthly increase. The manufacturing sector -- for months a rare bright spot in the economy -- produced less due to winter storms but is expected to rebound in March.

AIG to sell Asian life insurer to repay bailouts

American International Group Inc. is selling a cornerstone of its business, Asia-based life insurer AIA Group, in a government-approved $35.5 billion deal. The sale to British insurer Prudential PLC could reduce by nearly one-fifth the amount of federal bailout money still invested in strugg…

New bank rules unlikely to hurt big institutions

NEW YORK | President Barack Obama's latest broadside against big banks may have more bark than bite.

Jobless claims, goods orders signal modest rebound

WASHINGTON | A fitful economic recovery is drawing strength from a stabilizing job market and signs that manufacturing will contribute to the rebound.

FDIC: Poor, minorities struggle to access banks

WASHINGTON | More than a million American households lost access to basic banking services like savings accounts last year, bank regulators say.

FDIC could seek bailout from banks

WASHINGTON | Regulators have approached big banks about borrowing billions to shore up the dwindling fund that insures regular deposit accounts.

FDIC chief says parts of regulatory plan won't fly

WASHINGTON | Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair is pushing back against key pillars of the Obama administration's financial overhaul plan, saying they wouldn't survive in Congress and calling her own alternatives more viable.

Rates on short-term Treasury bills dip at auction

WASHINGTON | Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction. The rate on six-month bills dropped to the lowest level since late December, while three-month bills also dipped.

10 big banks get OK to repay $68B in bailout money

WASHINGTON | Ten of the nation's largest banks were given the green light Tuesday to repay $68 billion in government bailout money, freeing them from restrictions on executive compensation that they say are making it hard to keep their top-performing executives.

10 big banks get OK to repay $68 billion in bailout money

WASHINGTON | The Treasury Department will allow 10 of the nation's largest banks to repay $68 billion in government bailout money.

Stress tests find 10 big banks need $75 billion more

WASHINGTON | The government's long-awaited "stress-test" results have found that 10 of the nation's 19 largest banks need a total of about $75 billion in new capital to withstand losses if the recession worsened.

Fed says gov't ready to save stress-tested banks

WASHINGTON | The Federal Reserve on Friday said the government is prepared to rescue any of the banks that underwent "stress tests" and were deemed vulnerable if the recession worsened sharply.

Fed tests harder on regional banks

WASHINGTON | The government's "stress tests" of 19 large banks take a harsher view of loans than of other troubled assets, according to a Federal Reserve document obtained by the Associated Press. That approach favors a few Wall Street banks while potentially threatening major regional players.