| Wall Street edges off five-year high, awaits earnings Posted: 07 Jan 2013 01:24 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks lost ground on Monday, as investors drew back from recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high, in anticipation of sluggish growth in corporate profits. Shares of financial companies dipped after a group of major U.S. banks agreed to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a government inquiry into faulty mortgage foreclosures. The KBW bank index , a gauge of U.S. bank stocks, was down 0.3 percent. Other sectors were hit as well, most notably energy and utilities. The S&P 500 energy sector index fell 0.8 percent and the utilities sector was off 1.1 percent. ...
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| Bank of America, other banks move closer to ending mortgage mess Posted: 07 Jan 2013 03:29 PM PST  CHARLOTTE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp announced more than $14 billion of legal settlements over bad mortgages it sold to investors and flaws in its foreclosure process, taking the bank a step closer to ending the home loan problems that have dogged it for years. About $3 billion of Bank of America's Monday's settlements were part of a larger $8.5 billion deal between 10 big mortgage lenders and regulators to end a loan-by-loan review of foreclosures mandated by the government. ...
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| Exclusive: Disney looks for cost savings, ponders layoffs - sources Posted: 07 Jan 2013 03:35 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co started an internal cost-cutting review several weeks ago that may include layoffs at its studio and other units, three people with knowledge of the effort told Reuters, in an early sign that big companies may not be finished tightening their belts. Disney, whose empire spans TV, film, merchandise and theme parks, is exploring cutbacks in jobs it no longer needs because of improvements in technology, one of the people said. ...
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| Exclusive: SEC probes Ernst & Young over audit client lobbying Posted: 07 Jan 2013 03:40 PM PST  WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether auditing company Ernst & Young violated auditor rules by letting its lobbying unit perform work for several major audit clients, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The SEC inquiry began shortly after Reuters reported in March 2012 that Washington Council Ernst & Young, the E&Y unit, was registered as a lobbyist for several corporate audit clients including Amgen Inc, CVS Caremark Corp and Verizon Communications Inc [ID:nL2E8DL649], according to one of the sources. ...
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| New York cannot object to $115 million AIG shareholder accord: judge Posted: 07 Jan 2013 03:10 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman cannot object to a $115 million settlement between American International Group Inc shareholders and the insurer's former chief executive, a U.S. judge has ruled. The New York Attorney General lacks standing to object to the settlement, U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Batts in Manhattan said in a ruling filed on Monday. She also denied Schneiderman's request to intervene. ...
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| New York antitrust trial begins over credit card arbitrations Posted: 07 Jan 2013 03:10 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three of the largest U.S. credit card issuers headed to trial on Monday to defend accusations that they colluded to force customers to agree to settle disputes through arbitration rather than in class action lawsuits. American Express Co , Discover Financial Services and Citigroup Inc face the allegations in two antitrust lawsuits filed by customers who had to sign arbitration agreements in order to get credit cards. U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan is hearing the cases without a jury. The trial follows a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2011. ... |
| Owner of Mandee, Annie Sez stores files for bankruptcy Posted: 07 Jan 2013 02:31 PM PST (Reuters) - The owner of the 129 Mandee, Annie Sez and Afaze women's clothing stores filed for bankruptcy after Superstorm Sandy cut into the New Jersey-based company's sales and derailed its turnaround. The company, Big M Inc, which caters to young women with its Mandee stores, was forced to close many locations for a week after Sandy cut through the New York City metropolitan area on October 29. The company also placed blame for its bankruptcy filing on its insurer for not promptly paying its claims related to the storm, according to court documents. ... |
| Chesapeake's McClendon will not receive 2012 bonus: filing Posted: 07 Jan 2013 03:26 PM PST  (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp , the U.S. oil and gas company battling a governance crisis and financial strain, said on Monday its chief executive officer, Aubrey McClendon, will not receive a bonus for 2012. Last year was rough for Chesapeake and McClendon. The company faced both a liquidity crisis brought on by low gas prices and heavy spending and a governance crisis that resulted in shareholders effectively taking control of the board of directors in June. McClendon has come under fire for blurring the line between his personal dealings and that of the company. ...
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| Citigroup CEO names new executive team Posted: 07 Jan 2013 09:41 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The new chief executive of Citigroup Inc named two company veterans to lead its institutional and consumer businesses on Monday and set lines of command to give him more direct responsibility for executives than his predecessor. CEO Mike Corbat said on Monday that investment banker Jamie Forese will be head of institutional business and co-president of the company with Manuel Medina-Mora, who will continue to oversee global consumer banking and Citi's franchise in Mexico. ...
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| U.S. banks to pay $8.5 billion to end foreclosure reviews Posted: 07 Jan 2013 11:58 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of 10 mortgage servicers agreed on Monday to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a U.S. government-mandated case-by-case review of housing crisis foreclosures in an acknowledgement the program had proven too cumbersome and expensive. Roughly 3.8 million borrowers whose homes were in foreclosure within the time frame of the review will receive cash compensation ranging from hundreds of dollars up to $125,000, depending on the type of errors they experienced, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said. ...
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| US banks try to clean up remaining mortgage mess Posted: 07 Jan 2013 03:15 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. banks have taken another step to clear away the wreckage of the 2008 financial crisis by agreeing to pay $8.5 billion to settle charges that they wrongfully foreclosed on millions of homeowners.
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| Bank of America in mortgage claims settlement Posted: 07 Jan 2013 12:48 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America reached an $11.6 billion settlement with government mortgage agency Fannie Mae to settle claims resulting from mortgage-backed investments that soured during the housing crash, bringing it a step closer to clearing up its legacy of bad home loans.
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| Stocks sink, pulling S&P 500 down from 5-year high Posted: 07 Jan 2013 01:43 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — Investors started the week on a cautious note, pulling the Standard & Poor's 500 index down from the five-year high it reached Friday.
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| Gadget Watch: Samsung lens flips from 2-D to 3-D Posted: 07 Jan 2013 02:15 PM PST  LAS VEGAS (AP) — Cameras that can record in 3-D are usually pretty complicated, sporting two lenses instead of one, to mimic human binocular vision. Samsung says it has a more elegant solution: a single lens that can go from 2-D to 3-D mode with the flip of a switch.
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| McDonald's expands test flight for chicken wings Posted: 07 Jan 2013 03:10 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — First there were McNuggets. Then there were Chicken McBites. Now McDonald's could be adding "Mighty Wings" to its chicken menu.
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| CES unveils big TVs with 'ultrahigh definition' Posted: 07 Jan 2013 03:29 PM PST  LAS VEGAS (AP) — The race to make TVs larger and larger has created a colossal problem for manufacturers: As screens grow, picture quality worsens — unless the viewer moves farther away from the screen.
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| Google executive chairman arrives in North Korea Posted: 07 Jan 2013 11:31 AM PST  PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Google's chairman wants a firsthand look at North Korea's economy and social media landscape during his private visit Monday to the communist nation, his delegation said, despite misgivings in Washington over the timing of the trip.
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| Unusual respite from surging health care costs Posted: 07 Jan 2013 02:25 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans kept health care spending in check for three years in a row, the government reported Monday, an unusual respite that could linger if the economy stays soft or fade like a mirage if job growth comes roaring back. |
| 'The Walking Dead' was 2012's top-selling comic Posted: 07 Jan 2013 02:56 PM PST  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Stilted gaits and mindless shambling did nothing to stop demand for Image Comics' "The Walking Dead" series, with the 100th issue of Robert Kirkman's acclaimed series garnering the top spot as 2012's top-selling comic book.
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| New Lego robotics kit talks to iPhones Posted: 07 Jan 2013 03:44 AM PST  LAS VEGAS (AP) — Lego bricks are getting cozy with the iPhone and other Apple devices in the latest incarnation of the Mindstorms robotics kit.
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