UNITED STATES

Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Thursday that $100 million is too much for an employee to earn given the bank's circumstances.

The man who has the power to set pay on Wall Street is hitting the road for a series of speeches before he has even publicly testified before Congress.

The U.S. government fined Spirit Airlines $375,000 on Thursday for allegedly violating consumer protection rules, including those covering passengers who have been bumped from their flights, officials said.

Cuba has freed a man who was jailed for denouncing food shortages in a widely viewed YouTube video and sent him instead to a psychiatric hospital for three weeks, a human rights group said on Wednesday.

Credit agencies will have to disclose more of their ratings history, and creators of financial products will have to share data with all credit raters, under rules adopted by U.S. regulators on Thursday.

New York Sports clubs owner Town Sports International Holdings Inc said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was formally investigating the company's deferral of certain payroll costs related to membership sales.

Import cargo at major U.S. retail ports is expected to hit 12.5 million containers in 2009, sharply below last year's total but it was an improved outlook compared with just a month ago, the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight said on Thursday.

U.S. stocks slipped on Thursday after a three-day runup on concern recent gains were overextended despite the latest round of solid economic data.

Earlier this year, Irene Rosenfeld left no doubt as to what she would do with Kraft employees who stubbornly resisted a new set of values at the company.

The Next Foreclosure Crisis; Telecom Chief Mixed on Economy; Employers to Bear Brunt

The federal government and states are girding themselves for the next foreclosure crisis in the country's housing downturn: payment option adjustable rate mortgages that are beginning to reset.

U.S. securities regulators proposed on Thursday a ban on flash orders that stock exchanges send to a select group of traders, fractions of a second before revealing them publicly.

The U.S. federal government will keep about $1.2 billion in payments collected to backstop money market funds even after its insurance program ends on Friday, a U.S. Treasury official said.

The Australian Dollar has held onto its recent spectacular gains and opens on Friday at 0.8710. The Aussie ended yesterday's local session at a new 13-month high of 0.8774 as stronger-than-expected economic data from the United States adds to signs the global economy is edging towards recovery.

About 40 percent of all U.S. junk bonds outstanding in late 2008 will likely default by 2013 as government aid measures end and a wall of corporate debt comes due, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Thursday.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's balance sheet grew to its largest since May on a hefty increase in its holding of mortgage-backed securities, Fed data showed on Thursday.

The U.S. military closed down its largest detention center on Thursday in Iraq, as it moves to release thousands of detainees or transfer them to Iraqi custody before the end of the year.

U.S. short-term borrowing costs edged up on Thursday on concern the Federal Reserve could signal it is ready to tighten monetary policy sooner than traders had thought.

Ever wondered what it would be like to have Lance Armstrong pedal your bike for you? Well now you can find out, sort of.

New York's troubled public transit system has a $9.9 billion funding gap in its 2010-2014 capital program which it may have to close with debt absent any other source of funds, the state comptroller said on Thursday.

Palm Inc reported a smaller-than-expected loss on strong smartphone sales, sending its shares 6 percent higher on Thursday