IBT Staff Reporter

A congressional panel accused Bank of America Corp on Tuesday of knowing about Merrill Lynch's huge losses as early as November 2008, suggesting the bank misled investors in saying it did not grasp the depth of the problems until the following month.

Research In Motion's top executives say the BlackBerry will hold its ground in a fierce battle with Apple's iPhone and other rivals, even as a boom in smartphone sales shakes up a market segment that their company once ruled.

Three years after Congress took action, financial companies are getting final rules for revealing what they do with their customers' personal information.

A employee of mobile phone operator T-Mobile is facing prosecution after selling personal details of thousands of British customers to rival companies in an alleged major breach of data protection laws.

Citigroup Inc said on Tuesday it boosted the base salaries for its chief financial officer and a global markets co-head, but has left Chief Executive Vikram Pandit's salary unchanged.

A senior Federal Reserve official said on Tuesday that the U.S. central bank must remain vigilant about keeping inflation in check and not let patchy economic weakness deter it from beginning to withdraw extraordinary levels of support.

Qualcomm, the world's biggest chip maker, said on Tuesday that it expects to sell its TD-SCDMA chips in mainland China within the next year.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday said it was reducing the maximum maturity of loans from its discount window to 28 days from 90 days in light of the improvement in financial market conditions.

Arrow Electronics, an electronic parts and computer products distributor, said it agreed to buy A.E. Petsche Co, an Arlington, Texas-based supplier of specialty wire and cable, to boost its presence in the aerospace and defense markets.

U.S. stocks were little changed on Tuesday as outlooks from Target and Home Depot sparked caution about holiday spending, offsetting upbeat broker views on Microsoft and Exxon Mobil .

U.S. carmaker General Motors could cut between 9,000 and 10,000 jobs as part of its restructuring of its European operations, Nick Reilly, interim head of GM's European business, said on Tuesday.

Congress ought to clarify if a proposed super-regulator of the U.S. financial system should be an overlapping overseer of securities and futures exchanges, the chief futures regulator said on Tuesday.

U.S. carmaker General Motors could cut between 9,000 and 10,000 jobs as part of a restructuring of its European operations, Nick Reilly, interim head of GM's European business, said on Tuesday.

Top home improvement chain Home Depot Inc reported quarterly results that beat analysts' estimates, but made a forecast that suggested weaker results at the end of the year and said a recovery might not take hold until the second half of 2010.

Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it will launch its long-awaited Windows Azure cloud computing system on Jan 1, as it looks to take advantage of the growing interest in internet-based software and services.

Lazard Ltd on Tuesday named insider Kenneth Jacobs as CEO and chairman, succeeding legendary Wall Street dealmaker Bruce Wasserstein, who died last month.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday after discount retailer Target gave a cautious holiday season outlook, but positive brokerage comments on tech bellwether Microsoft helped limit losses.

Most of the thousands of rich people whose UBS bank accounts are to be handed over to U.S. authorities are suspected of serious fraud rather than simple tax evasion, Swiss authorities revealed on Tuesday.

Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it will launch its long-awaited Windows Azure cloud computing system on Jan 1, as it looks to take advantage of the growing interest in internet-based software and services.

U.S. home builder sentiment held steady at a low level in November, according to a survey taken before the government extended a popular tax credit for first-time buyers.

The head of the largest U.S. labor federation urged President Barack Obama on Tuesday to use the $700 billion Wall Street bailout fund to help cash-starved small businesses as a way to stem rising joblessness.

U.S. home builder sentiment held steady at a low level in November, according to a survey taken before the government extended a popular tax credit for first-time buyers.

The Federal Reserve is reducing the maximum maturity of primary credit loans at the discount window for depository institutions to 28 days from 90 days, effective January 14, 2010.

Foreign demand for U.S. securities soared in September, the Treasury Department said on Tuesday, as investors grew more confident about a recovery in the world's largest economy.

LOS ANGELES - Celebrities beware: YouTube is making it even easier for anyone with a camera phone to turn your behavior -- be it mundane or sensational -- into news.

European Union securities regulators will complete their review of dark pool share trading venues by year end and may ask the bloc's executive to take speedy action, a top supervisor said on Tuesday.

Some 14,700 rich Americans worried about a U.S. government crackdown on offshore tax cheats came forward to participate in a tax amnesty program, the top U.S. tax official said on Tuesday.

Chevron Corp, the second-largest U.S. oil company, would only seek mergers and acquisitions that add scale and fit strategically with the rest of the company, its chief financial officer said on Tuesday.

French insurer AXA SA and Australia's AMP Ltd need to sweeten their bid for AXA Asia Pacific Holdings by about 10 percent to seal the proposed $11 billion deal, analysts and fund managers say.