GOLDMAN SACHS

Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein said on Thursday that the global credit crisis is in its latter stages probably approaching an end.

Merril Lynch will likely write down between $6 billion and $6.5 billion linked to several types of debt, senior company executives said, according to a report.

Treasury prices rose on Wednesday as stocks fell and the financial sector showed additional signs of trouble.

Goldman Sachs Group reiterated on Tuesday that it would be making around five per cent of its staff redundant.

The U.S. dollar gained against the yen and euro on Tuesday after American banks Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers reported stronger than expected profits for their latest quarters.

By Dan Denning The biggest losers will be consumers everywhere. Global monetary policy is entering a new, highly accommodating phase.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Friday said Delphi Corp can proceed with an exit financing deal

U.S. stocks dropped to an 18-month low on Tuesday , after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged banks to write down more mortgage debts. Financial shares led indexes to fall while oil and gold dropped from previous records.

American International Group, on the heels of reporting its largest-ever loss, said on Friday the subprime crisis had thrown it into uncharted waters that were likely to remain choppy through 2008.

U.S. stocks extended losses Thursday, pushing the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 down more than 1 percent, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said some smaller banks are likely to fail and jobless claims rose.

Goldman Sachs said it expects additional writedowns of about $1 billion to $12 billion each for several major U.S. brokers in the first quarter, with Citigroup estimated to record the highest amount of about $12 billion.

The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 1430 GMT on Monday.

Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of Britain's Barclays Plc, has named Mark Bamford as head of global syndicate to replace Geert Vinken, who is retiring.

Wall Street investment banks, stung by debt losses, have cut tens of thousands of jobs, but even more significant cuts are coming in the months ahead amid a bleaker earnings outlook.

Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are the most exposed to further writedowns from leveraged loans in the first quarter, as the value of loans and bonds created to finance leveraged buyouts plunges, Bank of America said.

Wall Street banks face a big challenge: a U.S. economy on the edge of recession

Wall Street banks battered by mortgage and credit losses survived 2007 only to face an even bigger challenge: a U.S. economy on the edge of recession.

U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs plans to release about 5 percent of its global workforce in coming months, a company spokesman said on Friday.

The U.K. government said on Monday it would assist in the sale of troubled mortgage lender Northern Rock to private buyers by guaranteeing bonds issued by the firm.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the economic outlook has worsened and Merrill Lynch & Co. reported the a big loss related to the struggling mortgage lending market.

Merrill Lynch exposed billions more in losses related to the troubled mortgage lending market on Thursday, with newly hired chief executive calling the latest quarterly results clearly unacceptable as the company moves to straighten out its balances. Merrill reported an $11.5 billion write-down in its last quarter, while recording an overall loss of $9.3 billion for the same period.