IBT Staff Reporter

Microsoft Corp has dropped an attempt to recoup some severance money from 25 recently fired workers it mistakenly overpaid. The Redmond, Washington-based company, which announced a plan to cut up to 5,000 jobs in January, acknowledged on Sunday that it had tried to get the overpaid workers to return the extra money. But late on Monday, it reversed course. This was a mistake on our part, said...

A judge on Monday ruled that former Merrill Lynch & Co Chief Executive John Thain is free to disclose the names of individuals who received bonuses awarded by the former investment bank before it was bought by Bank of America Corp.

Wall Street slumped to a 12-year low on Monday as investors lost faith that the U.S. government will be able to stabilize the financial system. The S&P 500 and the Dow both posted their lowest closes since the spring of 1997 as reports the government may convert its stake in Citigroup into a big common stock holding fell short of what many see as necessary to fix big banks. It is generally...

The Obama administration has added Wall Street expertise to its team overseeing the restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler, naming Steven Rattner as adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The Federal Reserve stands ready to do everything in its power to combat the financial crisis and recession and buying long-term Treasury bonds could be helpful, a top Fed official said on Monday. Few of us imagined in our wildest dreams that our global economy could have turned so rotten so quickly, Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said in remarks prepared for...

JPMorgan Chase & Co , the second-largest U.S. bank, slashed its common stock dividend 87 percent on Monday, a surprise move by a lender considered among the strongest in the U.S. financial sector. The bank also said it has been solidly profitable this quarter, and that the outlook for the three-month period is roughly in line with analyst forecasts. Shares rose 5.5 percen...

JPMorgan Chase & Co, the second-largest U.S. bank, slashed its common stock dividend 87 percent on Monday, a surprise move by a lender considered among the strongest in the U.S. financial sector.

As the economic crisis continues to swallow up companies, America's largest digital camera retailer Ritz Camera, has become the latest to file for bankruptcy.

Allowing energy exploration and production offshore, now currently banned, could make an impact on the U.S. economy of more than $8 trillion over the next 30 years to the Gross Domestic Product and support 1.2 million jobs annually over its years of development, the American Energy Alliance said in a study Monday.

The United States plans to offer more than $900 million to help rebuild Gaza after Israel's invasion and to strengthen the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, U.S. officials said on Monday.

namely, to help stabilize the banking system and economy. The bank said it hopes to return to a more normalized dividend as soon as feasible once the environment stabilizes. Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc , JPMorgan's largest rivals, have slashed their dividends to a penny per share since November. Shares of JPMorgan fell 30 cents to $19.21 in after-hour...

Sales of Cuban cigars, considered the finest in the world, dropped 3 percent to $390 million in 2008 as the world financial crisis and the spread of anti-smoking laws cut demand, officials said on Monday.

Wall Street slumped to a 12-year low on Monday as investors lost faith that the U.S. government will be able to stabilize the financial system. The S&P 500 and the Dow both posted their lowest closes since the spring of 1997 as reports the government may convert its stake in Citigroup into a big common stock holding fell short of what many see as necessary to fix big banks. It is generally...

American International Group Inc and the U.S. government are engaged in talks, as the troubled U.S. insurer faces massive losses due to writedowns on commercial real estate and other assets, according to a source and CNBC report on Monday. AIG, once the world's largest insurer, is expected to post a loss of nearly $60 billion on Monday, when it reports its results, CNBC reported ci...

Even if the government took a large common equity stake in Citigroup Inc, worries would likely persist about the bank's ability to absorb soaring losses in a deepening recession. The third-largest U.S. bank by assets is in talks with federal regulators on a plan for the government to increase its stake, a person familiar with the matter said. Converting $45 billion of preferred stock, which the ...

Ford Motor Co reached a tentative deal with the United Auto Workers that would slash cash payments for its retiree health care, while European governments ruled out rescue plans for General Motors Corp's struggling Opel and Saab units. The U.S. Treasury also named Steven Rattner, co-founder of private equity firm Quadrangle Group, as an adviser on the restructuring of th...

American Express Co., battered by mounting credit card losses, is offering $300 to a limited number of U.S. card holders who pay off their balances and close their accounts, the company said on Monday.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell to an 11-year low on Monday as investors dumped shares on uncertainty about the latest potential U.S. government action to shore up beleaguered banks. Making matters worse, worries about a fall-off in business and consumer spending on technology hurt the biggest names in the tech sector. IBM and Hewlett-Packard were the top drags o...

The head of Yahoo Inc's news and information division has jumped ship to Hearst Corp, as speculation mounts that the Internet company is on the brink of a major management reorganization. Hearst said on Monday that Neeraj Khemlani will join the newspaper and magazine publisher in March as vice president and special assistant to the chief executive for digital media. Khemlani will report directl...

New York state's top legal officer filed a court motion on Monday to compel former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain to discuss $4 billion in employee bonuses, ratcheting up its probe into a hot-button issue in the recession.

On Monday distributors stated that various foreign press titles are set to return to the press stands this week following a 25 year absence.

In my work as a food writer I’ve suffered lost reservations and long waits for bad tables but never—never!—have I been subjected to the serial heartbreak I suffered at the door of a neighborhood pastry shop on my last visit to Tokyo.

Stocks slid on Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average to its lowest in more than 11 years, as uncertainty about the government's latest bid to shore up ailing banks, including Citigroup , diminished the appetite for riskier assets. A sell-off in technology shares added to the negative tone amid concerns about declining business and consumer spending. The S&P 500 broke b...

An accounting error reportedly led Microsoft Corp to notify some laid off employees last week that they would need to give back part of their severance pay. The world's largest software maker laid off 1,400 workers last month, the first of 5,000 jobs the company plans to cut over the next 18 months. The error is believed to have overpaid some former employees and underpaid others...

New York state's top legal officer filed a court motion on Monday to compel former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain to discuss $4 billion in employee bonuses, ratcheting up its probe into a hot-button issue in the recession. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo alleged that Thain, who was ousted from Bank of America Corp in January just three weeks after the companies merged, said Bank of America ...

have truly outstanding fundamentals, it seems to me that you ought to be thinking about that as investors and not just the short-term concerns. The deal will allow Nova to strengthen its balance sheet so it can keep operating and expanding, the companies said. IPIC agreed to give Nova a $250 million backstop facility to improve its liquidity. Meanwhile, Nova won a new $150 million credit faci...

Even if the government takes a large common equity stake in Citigroup Inc, worries are likely to persist about the bank's ability to absorb soaring losses in a deepening recession.

U.S. regulators including the Treasury and Federal Reserve issued a joint statement saying the government stands firmly behind the banking system and said the government would ensure the banks had enough capital and liquidity to provide credit needed for economic growth.

Navigation device maker Garmin posted lower-than-expected quarterly results as sales of its gadgets used in cars dropped, but shares rose 15 percent as the company reduced its inventory.