IBT Staff Reporter

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision has charged Angelo Mozilo and two former executives with securities fraud and misleading Countrywide investors about credit risks taken to build, maintain market share.

Xcel Energy Inc would offer incentives for Minnesota customers who take steps to conserve energy, which could include installation of solar panels on homes and businesses, under a $280 million plan filed this week with regulators, the state's biggest power company said on Thursday.

Defense contractor General Dynamics Corp , looking to position itself for new business as U.S. military forces shift priorities, said on Thursday that it planned to buy Axsys Technologies Inc , a maker of surveillance and imaging systems, for $643 million.

Chrysler will have little need for the hundreds of dealers it wants to close if it completes its sale to Fiat as expected, the judge overseeing the automaker's bankruptcy said on Thursday.

Data & Audio Visual Enterprises Wireless Inc, a startup carrier created after Canada's wireless spectrum auction last year, has signed a roaming agreement with heavyweight T-Mobile USA, it announced on Thursday.

Bank of America Chief Executive Officer, Kenneth Lewis, named today Gregory Curl as the company’s Chief Risk Officer.

A carbon capture boom is unlikely near term in China, the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, because its coal-burning plants are inefficient, said global warming activist Al Gore.

Countrywide Financial Corp co-founder Angelo Mozilo and two other former executives at the once-largest U.S. mortgage lender were sued by U.S. stock regulators on Thursday, a Securities and Exchange Commission official said.

Stocks rose on Thursday as a brokerage's upgrade drove banks' shares higher, while soaring prices of oil and other commodities lifted natural resource companies on bets the economic slump is waning.

Merchants and retailers would be able to negotiate with banks to reduce costs associated with credit card purchases, according to legislation introduced on Thursday by lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Oil prices hit a seven-month high on Thursday after U.S. data showed a drop in jobless claims, boosting expectations of an economic recovery that could revive ailing energy demand.

Charles Xiaojia Li, former chairman of JP Morgan, was appointed on Wednesday as Chief Executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, making the first head of the bourse with a mainland background.

There is no compelling reason to merge the U.S. equities and futures regulators, said the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday when asked if a merger will be proposed.

The Pre smartphone from Palm Inc received mostly positive reviews and predictions it will be a tough competitor to Apple Inc's iPhone, sending Palm's shares up more than 10 percent.

A growing team of Fiat SpA executives and engineers has been working at Chrysler's Detroit-area headquarters this week, finalizing plans to cut costs and ready the Fiat 500 small car for the U.S. market, people with knowledge of the work said.

Actor David Carradine, who starred in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies and in the TV series “Kung Fu, was found dead, hanging from a rope in the closet of a hotel in Bangkok on Thursday in a suspected suicide Thai police said, according to Thai newspaper The Nation.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will begin selling plug-in electric vehicles in Japan by 2013 based on its Pajero sport utility vehicle and plans to extend sales to the United States and Europe, according to the newspaper Asahi Shimbun on Thursday.

Toyota Motor Corp. may bet strongly on the hybrid vehicle market in the coming decade after an executive of the firm discarded the idea that electric vehicles can become mainstream for some time unless a breakthrough in battery technology is invented.

Biogen Idec Inc said on Thursday a preliminary count from its annual meeting showed one representative from dissident shareholder Carl Icahn's slate was elected to the board.

Ramani Ayer, 62, who led Hartford Financial Services Group for 12 years as chief executive said he will retire from his CEO and chairman positions by the end of the year after a tumultuous two years where the firm has been hard hit by the current economic downturn and financial crisis.

A much-anticipated package of financial regulations from the Obama administration will call for a financial products safety commission and new rules on executive pay, hedge funds and derivatives, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee told Reuters on Wednesday.

Game publishers, in a rare moment of solidarity, joined forces on Wednesday to convey optimism for the future of their $30 billion industry despite spiraling consumer spending and a global economic downturn.

Sony Corp is in no hurry to cut prices on its PlayStation games console, top executives said, even though many industry experts and other executives consider it a foregone conclusion.

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, led by financials, after RBC Capital Markets said it sees banks outperforming the market for multiple years, and energy stocks gained as oil rose almost 5 percent.

Oil prices rose more than 5 percent to a seven-month high above $69 a barrel on Thursday after U.S. data showed a drop in jobless claims, boosting expectations of an economic recovery that could revive ailing energy demand.

China security has tightened Tiananmen Square with hundreds of police on Thursday to prevent any commemoration of the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters 20 years ago.

U.S. stocks rose to session highs on Thursday, as a surge in oil prices lifted energy shares, while positive broker comments on banks including JPMorgan drove a run-up in financials.

Oil prices rose nearly 5 percent to a seven-month high above $69 a barrel on Thursday after U.S. data showed a fall in jobless claims, raising expectations of an economic recovery and increased demand for oil.

The European Central Bank said on Thursday it expected the euro zone recession to last for another year, unveiling details of a plan to pump cash into the troubled economy and keeping interest rates at a record low.