UNITED STATES

The telephones have been ringing off the hook at U.S. mortgage lenders since President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion on Wednesday to help stem a wave of home foreclosures.

Bank of America Corp Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis was subpoenaed last week by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is investigating whether the bank violated state law by withholding information from investors, the Wall Street Journal said late Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

U.S. consumer prices are estimated to have risen in January as a recent rise in energy prices defied the economic downturn and disinflationary trends, according to economists polled by Reuters. As energy prices rose, a median forecast culled from a poll of more than 70 economists estimated that consumer prices overall rose 0.3 percent in January from December, while prices excluding food and ener...

and would likely continue to worsen for the time being. Japan has been hit particularly hard by the global slump, triggered by the U.S. housing market meltdown, due to its heavy dependence on exports and chronically weak domestic consumption. Crude inventories in the United States, the world's top consumer, fell slightly last week on lower imports and higher demand, the U.S. Energy Information...