MARKETS / FINANCE

IMF member nations, acknowledging resistance from emerging markets to limits on capital controls, said rich nations' policies that spur large capital outflows that could harm other economies also need oversight.

The German finance ministry on Saturday denied it was drawing up contingency plans for a Greek debt restructuring after the Financial Times reported the ministry was studying various options if Athens fails to meet its fiscal targets.

Bank of America said it has hired Gary Lynch, a former director of enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to head its legal, compliance, and regulatory relations efforts.

Developing countries on Saturday pushed back hard against attempts to restrict how they manage money pouring into their fast-growing economies and said rich nations should reconsider their own policies instead.

A downgrade of Iceland's credit rating would be unjustified now that the country's economy is improving, Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson said on Saturday.

Mexican magnate Carlos Slim plans to invest about $1.5 billion in Argentina's telecoms sector, a newspaper reported on Saturday, citing the government.

Germany is urging Athens to adopt contingency plans that would foresee a voluntary, market-friendly debt restructuring should Greece fail to meet its ambitious fiscal targets, the Financial Times reported.

Leading world economies agreed on Friday to put the policies of seven major nations under a microscope as part of a plan to prevent a repeat of the global financial crisis.

China's monetary policy tightening will continue for some time as inflation remains higher than the government is comfortable with, and the yuan will be one of the tools used to fight it, the central bank governor said on Saturday.

China's monetary policy tightening will continue for some time as inflation remains higher than the government is comfortable with, and the yuan will be one of the tools used to fight it, the central bank governor said on Saturday.

The owners of three of the largest Internet poker companies operating in the United States were accused on Friday of tricking regulators and banks into processing billions of dollars of illegal Internet gambling proceeds.

Europe is likely to be hit the hardest among major economies by a potential global slowdown in 2012, but China's $300 billion sovereign wealth fund is still looking for investment opportunities there, its head said on Saturday.

China's monetary policy tightening will continue for some time because inflation remains higher than the government is comfortable with, with the yuan being one of the tools used, the country's central bank governor said on Saturday.

Sprint Nextel Corp CEO Dan Hesse attacked rival AT&T Inc's planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA on Friday, saying a tie-up between the two would hurt innovation and set the country's wireless industry back.

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc told investors it could sell NYSE Euronext's American Stock Exchange and offer a break-up fee to overcome antitrust concerns in its $11.3 billion bid for the Big Board parent, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

U.S. authorities closed six banks on Friday, bringing the total number of foreclosures in 2011 to 34.

The Group of 20 nations agreed on Friday on a way to measure the potential risks to the global economy posed by national economic policies as part of a plan to avoid a repeat of the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

Inflation accelerated in Asia and Europe in March while the United States bucked the global trend with underlying price pressures largely in check, leaving monetary policy on diverging paths around the world.

Encouraging economic indicators sent U.S. stocks higher on Friday, but the market's recent struggles are set to continue into next week when more than one-fifth of S&P 500 companies report results.

The Obama administration urged the private sector on Friday to develop methods that consumers can use instead of passwords to identify themselves online and, in some cases, in brick and mortar stores.

The Group of 20 nations agreed on Friday on a way to measure the potential risks to the global economy posed by national economic policies as part of a plan to avoid a repeat of the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

Bank of America Corp posted an unexpectedly sharp drop in first-quarter profit as higher expenses from delayed home foreclosures weighed on its mortgage business.

The Group of 20 nations agreed on Friday on a way to measure the potential risks to the global economy posed by national economic policies as part of a plan to avoid a repeat of the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

Greece laid out plans to sell stakes in key state firms and make further budget savings on Friday but failed to quell fears of debt restructuring fanned by a German official's comments.

Encouraging economic indicators sent U.S. stocks higher on Friday, but the market's recent struggles are set to continue into next week when more than one-fifth of S&P 500 companies report results.

To judge by their polar opposite reactions, two top U.S. Federal Reserve officials could have been looking at completely different sets of U.S. inflation data on Friday.

A Morgan Stanley property fund failed to make $3.3 billion in debt payments by a deadline on Friday, handing over the keys to a central Tokyo office building to Blackstone and other investors, the largest repayment failure of its kind in Japan.

Rising food and gasoline costs lifted U.S. consumer prices overall in March, but underlying inflation pressures were contained and consumers grew more confident about the economy in early April.

Inflation accelerated in Asia and Europe in March while the United States bucked the global trend with underlying price pressures largely in check, leaving monetary policy on diverging paths around the world.