GOLDMAN SACHS

A federal judge on Wednesday approved a $153.6 million settlement between JPMorgan Chase & Co and the top U.S. market regulator over allegations a mortgage CDO product defrauded the bank's investors at the time of the housing market collapse.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc filed a new $65 billion bankruptcy liquidation plan that it said has won wider support, possibly setting the stage for the end of the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), one of the nation's largest banks by assets, has confirmed an $8.5 billion settlement with high-profile investors over mortgage loans, and would report a second-quarter loss in the range of $8.6 billion to $9.1 billion.

Perhaps the time has come to turn the page on Warren Buffett's leadership role

Firm settles regulatory probe for misleading investors

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling places new limits nationwide on class-action suits. Companies facing similar suits to benefit from the ruling include Cigna Corp., Goldman Sachs Inc., Bayer AG, Deere Co., and Costco Wholesale Corp. The case one of the most important for U.S. businesses in a decade.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: AeroVironment, Asia Entertainment & Resources, A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Globus Maritime, and Merge Healthcare. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: NuVasive, Adobe Systems, Atmel, Globe Specialty Metals, Altera, Research In Motion, and Apple.

U.S. financial firms have been cutting staff dramatically this year, with more layoffs expected to come from Wall Street, according to a report on Tuesday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co said it agreed to pay $153.6 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it misled investors about a mortgage securities transaction just as the nation's housing market was starting to plummet.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Monday are: CF Industries Holdings, Peabody Energy, CONSOL Energy, Sprint Nextel, PNC Financial Services, Nabors Industries, Akamai Technologies, Carnival Corp, Nike and Sandisk Corp.

Facebook is getting closer to its eventual IPO, and speculations are rife that the offering could value the social networking giant at $100 billion. But considering reports on privacy issues that made Mark Zuckerberg put his foot in his mouth a few times, questions over his ability to manage the $100 billion Facebook seem to be logical.

Distressed debt and real estate investor Oaktree Capital Group filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering of its class A units, the latest financial firm to seek a public listing.

Speculations have been made that Facebook's initial public offering, which is likely to hit capital market by the first quarter of 2012, could value the popular social networking site at worth of $100 billion.

Traditionally fat expense accounts on Wall Street are about to get slashed as major banks set out to cut spending and staffing due to weaker markets and new regulation that will cut in to their profits.

U.S. regulators could file civil fraud charges against some credit rating agencies, and settle with more Wall Street banks, for their role in developing mortgage-bond deals that helped trigger the financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Thursday are: ING Group, Companhia Brasileira, Booz Allen Hamilton Holding, EnergySolutions and American Reprographics. The top after-market NYSE losers are: Lender Processing Services, Cal Dive International, Pandora Media, TRC Companies and CarMax.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc is increasing to $65 billion its estimated payback for creditors, a company spokeswoman said on Thursday.

We're certainly living in the new abnormal when Jeff Immelt, head of GE, is speaking like the President in a time of heightened political importance and awareness.

President Barack Obama is redoubling his efforts to curry favor with the financial industry, a bastion of support for his 2008 campaign whose members have criticized the president's rhetoric and support for increased regulation.

Goldman Sachs is to launch a commodities index with Clive Capital, the world's largest commodity hedge fund, the Financial Times reported on Monday citing a source familiar with the product.

Ally Financial, an auto and mortgage lender majority owned by the U.S. government, is delaying a $6 billion IPO due to bad market conditions, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.