DEUTSCHE BANK

Fitch Ratings, the third-biggest of the major credit rating agencies, downgraded seven global banks based in Europe and the United States, citing "increased challenges" in the financial markets.

Morgan Stanley's announcement that it is slashing 1,600 jobs is only the latest in a late-year blizzard of pink slips being floated among people at the heart of American high-finance. Bonuses are also down sharply. Is the economy Grinch stealing Wall Street's Christmas?

India's economic gloom deepened on Wednesday as figures showed a record low rupee is adding to Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) inflation headache and an adviser to the prime minister said there was little that could be done to check the currency's slump.

Italian police believe that the letter bomb sent to a top tax official in Rome on Friday was the work of a far-left anarchist group.

A mail bomb exploded at a tax collection office in Rome, Italy on Friday, injuring one.

European stocks were up around mid-day on Friday in a roller coaster session, with a key index bouncing between major technical levels following an agreement by European leaders for tighter Eurozone budget rules.

A letter bomb addressed to Deutsche Bank chief Josef Ackermann contained a fully functional bomb, and capable of exploding had it not been intercepted in the bank's mailroom, was the work of far-left Italian group, German authorities said Thursday; and more explosives may still be in the post.

Yet the New York Police Department has warned all banks in the city to beef up mailroom security in light of the episode. The package in Germany was made of explosives and shrapnel, and it was discovered in the mailroom at Deutsche Bank's headquarters. The package was detected by X-ray technology, police said. It did not detonate.

Deutsche Bank continues to recommend investors to buy into Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) and sell Hewlett-Packard, Co. (NYSE: HPQ), saying HP was expensive, compared to Dell on Enterprise Value (EV) and Free Cash Flow (FCF) metrics.

India may face its worst financial crisis in decades if it fails to stem a slide in the rupee, leaving the Reserve Bank of India with a difficult choice over how to make best use of its limited reserves to maintain the confidence of foreign investors.

Bank stocks finished up one of the best-performing weeks of the year Friday, as a global coordinated stimulus by the world's top central bankers announced Wednesday injected some badly needed liquidity into the credit markets and signaled a willingness for future intervention if the going gets tougher.

It seemed like it was only yesterday (perhaps because it actually was only three days ago, on Tuesday), when the shares of the banking giant teetered precariously above the $5 mark, a few cents off the dreaded "4 handle." Many were predicting a catastrophic sell-off. Fast-forward to today and Bank of America is trading at $5.74 per share, a jump of 13.66 percent in slightly over 60 hours.

A gradual broadening and strengthening of U.S. growth should cushion the American economy against severe damage from the storms in Europe, unless a financial meltdown causes global havoc.

Fulton County sheriff's deputies and local movers refused to follow orders to evict a 103-year-old woman and her 83-year-old daughter from their longtime home.

AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier, may be trying to salvage its $39 billion deal to acquire T-Mobile by agreeing to sell assets to loss-ridden Leap Wireless International.

Solid Black Friday and weekend checks indicate Apple is off to a solid holiday season as traffic at Apple stores was extremely robust with positive checks at other channels.

President Barack Obama will press European Union officials Monday to reach a definitive solution to their sovereign debt crisis which is emerging as a major 2012 U.S. election worry, Reuters reports.

Carl Huttenlocher, former Asia head of JPMorgan Chase & Co's Highbridge Capital, said he will launch a hedge fund with more than $300 million on December 1 after a delay in obtaining regulatory approval.

LONDON, Nov 25 - European companies are in for a tough time next year. The euro zone debt crisis is sparking caution on all fronts, as consumers keep their cash in their pockets, corporate treasurers take a knife to investment plans and investors desperately seek a haven for their wealth.

Cigna Corp. (NYSE:CI), which recently received antitrust clearances for its $4 billion acquisition of HealthSpring, Inc. (NYSE:HS), has now three distinctive growth drivers for 2012-2013.

Deutsche Bank has lowered its profit estimates of Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) saying that profit centers of the company's major businesses are structurally handicapped and turnaround will be long and slow.