MORGAN STANLEY

Everyone agrees the days of cheap gasoline are over. The pain at the pump is forcing people to cut down gasoline usage, and there has been a big drop in gasoline demand in the country. At the same time, domestic production is booming, with the number of rigs just in U.S. oil fields more than quadrupling in the past three years.

While Wall Street slashes pay and freezes cash awards, Goldman Sachs Group's top five executives may reap special bonuses of $10.5 million apiece if the firm hits historically easy profit targets over the next two years.

A series of technology companies, including security software maker Palo Alto Networks, are preparing to go public on the heels of Facebook's $5-billion filing, sensing a window of opportunity as the stock market rallies.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday with the S&P 500 stalled near a 10-month-old high after weak data on Europe's business activity raised concerns about a recession.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) has made an agreed 992.4 million pounds ($1.6 billion) bid for Mozambique-focused Cove Energy (COVE.L), offering a full price to open up a new gas frontier for the Anglo-Dutch oil major in East Africa.

After clamoring for the number one spot when it came to endorsing Facebook’s initial public offering in the beginning of the month, Goldman Sachs lost to Morgan Stanley, and placed fourth among U.S. financial rivals. Although it wasn’t chosen as the social-networking giant’s main supporter, Goldman Sachs and Facebook may have more in common than some think. In the past week, both companies claimed victories in intellectual property lawsuits, according to BusinessWeek.

Expansionary monetary policy globally could spark a repeat of the inflation run-up seen in 2011, said Spyros Andreopoulos, an economist with Morgan Stanley in a Global Economic Forum commentary.

Italian police reportedly seized nearly $6 trillion worth of fake U.S. Treasury bonds and other securities in Switzerland and arrested eight Italians in connection with international fraud and financial crimes.

Robust economic data and European Central Bank support for Greece energized U.S. stocks Thursday, as investors ignored possible bank downgrades and lifted equities to a nine-month high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.76 percent to 12,884.75 by early afternoon trading, while the Nasdaq rose 1.01 percent to 2,945.17. The S&P 500 rose 0.83 percent to 1,354.37.

Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley's former chief economist and a well-known fixture on Wall Street, is retiring from the firm, according to a memo sent to employees on Thursday.

Wall Street stocks were set to open little changed on Thursday as concerns about a possible downgrade of global banks by Moody's were offset by upbeat U.S. data on the labor and housing sectors.

Stock index futures fell on Thursday after a Moody's warning of a possible downgrade of global banks and a further holdup in a bailout for debt-laden Greece.

Stock index futures fell on Thursday as a Moody's warning of a possible downgrade of global banks and a further holdup in a bailout for debt-laden Greece kept investors nervous.

Moody's warned on Thursday it may cut the credit ratings of 17 global and 114 European financial institutions in another sign the impact of the eurozone government debt crisis is spreading throughout the global financial system.

Moody's Investors Service placed the ratings of Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on review for possible downgrade because it says the business' profitability will be diminished longer term.

Legal wrangling over the proposed $8.5 billion settlement of some of Bank of America Corp's mortgage-backed securities liability could drag through the courts for years, a top appeals court judge said during arguments in the case.

Morgan Stanley was left holding a 7 percent stake in Denmark's TDC , or nearly half the total amount that it had tried to sell to institutions earlier this week in a deal which raised $1 billion for the telecom operator's main shareholders.

The Bank of Japan boosted its asset buying program by $130 billion on Tuesday and in the face of political pressure set an inflation goal of one percent, signaling a more aggressive monetary policy to pull an ailing economy out of deflation.

The top aftermarket NYSE losers Monday were: Masco Corp, Quantum Corp, Calgon Carbon, Brink's, Calpine Corp, HealthSouth Corp, Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes and Carbo Ceramics.

Gold prices climbed on Monday as news that Greece's parliament had approved an austerity bill needed to release a second round of bailout funds lifted the euro, while platinum rose back towards a three-month high as supply issues flared up.