BANK OF AMERICA

The Nikkei share average ended lower on Wednesday, reversing two days of gains on profit-taking as investors remained cautious over new developments in the Eurozone debt crisis and looked to data later in the week.

India's Gross domestic product growth fell to 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the financial year. The GDP growth figure is the weakest pace in more than two years.

Stock index futures pointed to a weaker open for equities on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 down 0.4-0.7 percent.

Justices hear case that could affect the statute of limitation for filing certain insider trading claims.

So far, it has been a tough week for the troubled Bank of America Corp. (BAC). The firm's stock hit a new 52-week low Tuesday, dropping more than 3 percent to $5.03 a share, the lowest level since March 12, 2009. After the market closed, more bad news came as Standard & Poor's downgraded the bank's long-term credit rating by a notch to A- from A.

The Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said in a report released on Tuesday that the regulator did not provide enough oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in mortgage repurchases, executive compensation and other transactions.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) are among a group of 37 large financial institutions that were downgraded today by Standard & Poor's, according to Bloomberg News. The downgrades were somewhat expected, as S&P had announced earlier in the year it would be revising its methodology for rating banks in order to give more weight to those institutions' capital ratios.

The complexity fills everybody with such appalling fear. ... The honest answer is that, like everybody else, you try and contingency plan for any breakup of the eurozone.

While big U.S. banks assured investors they were financially healthy during the financial crisis, they also quietly approached the Federal Reserve for more bailout money. As of March 2009, the Fed committed $7.77 trillion to rescue the financial system, which is more than half the value of everything produced in the U.S. that year. The amount dwarfed the Treasury Department's better-known $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

Latest data on new claims for unemployment sent mixed signals to the market, showing that while the week ended Nov. 19 was the third straight week for initial claims to hold below 400,000, a mark that most economists believe is essential for the economy to add more jobs than it is shedding, application for jobless insurance increased 2,000 to 393,000.

Stock index futures were lower on Wednesday as worries about the euro zone crisis and weak data from China weighed on investor sentiment, putting the S&P 500 on track for a sixth day of losses.

The Federal Reserve plans to stress test six large U.S. banks against a hypothetical market shock, including a deterioration of the European debt crisis, as part of an annual review of bank health.

Stock index futures were lower on Wednesday as worries over Europe once again weighed on investor sentiment, putting the S&P 500 on track for a sixth day of losses.

Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) has reached a settlement with former Countrywide Financial Corp institutional investors who decided not to join a $624 million class-action case that won court approval in February.

The U.S. Department of Justice said it is reviewing statements and actions by big banks and their trade associations to see if they have violated antitrust laws through coordinated action to raise consumer debit card fees. But experts say an actual investigation is fairly unlikely.

The Federal Reserve plans to stress test six large U.S. banks against a hypothetical market shock, including a deterioration of the European debt crisis.

The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a review of comments and actions banks and trade associations made when rolling out new consumer debit card fees, sparking antitrust concerns.

U.S. regulators have informed Bank of America's board that the company could face public enforcement action if they aren't satisfied with recent steps taken to strengthen the bank, The Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

A company run by former American International Group Inc Chief Executive Maurice Hank Greenberg sued the U.S. government for $25 billion, calling the 2008 federal takeover of the insurer unconstitutional.

After being blacklisted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, troubled foreclosure firm Steven J. Baum PC announced on Monday that it would be closing.

Financial-related issues are taking the worst beating in the session.