GOLDMAN SACHS

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: APAC Customer Services, Hi Tech Pharmacal, Rediff.com India, Sky-mobi, EnerNOC, and Nova Measuring Instruments. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Affymetrix, Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Gulf Resources, Logitech International, Aixtron, and Starbucks.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Thursday are: Target Corp, Limited Brands, Urban Outfitters, Macy's, Gap, Sprint Nextel, Chesapeake Energy, Corning, Yum! Brands and Wellpoint Inc.

Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, and European banks RBS and UBS were the biggest beneficiaries of very short-term Federal Reserve loans extended at the height of the financial crisis, according to data released on Wednesday.

Zynga Inc, developer of popular Facebook games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars, is all set to hit the capital market with an initial public offer (IPO). The company filed with regulators for an IPO of up to $1 billion on Friday, hopping that its close ties with Facebook will be a key to its future success.

The company behind Farmville, Mafia Wars, Words With Friends, Empires and Allies and many other social games has officially filed for an IPO. In doing so, it follows in the footsteps of fellow social comapny, LinkedIn, which had an impressive IPO of its own last month.

Carver Bancorp Inc raised $55 million in new equity capital from institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley , Citigroup Inc and American Express , helping boost the bank's capital levels to meet regulatory requirements.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc plans to lay off 230 employees in New York because of economic conditions, according to a state filing on Wednesday.

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.