The Charles Schwab Corp. reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings last week, but buried in the numbers were signs that the headlong growth of the independent-adviser community may be waning, according to some analysts.
European stock markets rose today, with Wall Street expected to open higher, following better than expected earnings from U.S. banking giant Citigroup Inc. and General Electric Corp.
Several Braintree, Mass.-based firms filed suit yesterday in federal district court charging a Citigroup subsidiary with fraudulently selling auction rate securities while the firm was under investigation.
Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Vikram Pandit put his credibility on the line last month when he wrote a memo saying the bank, after five consecutive quarters of losses, at last was profitable. It turns out that depends on which definition of “profit” is used.
Despite a report by the Federal Reserve Board that found five out of 12 of its banking districts reporting a moderation in the pace of economic decline, many experts aren’t ready to predict the beginning of a recovery.
Three broker-dealers in the ING Advisors Network are facing another round of strategic reviews that could lead to their sale, an ING spokesman said this morning.
JPMorgan Chase said today it earned $2.14 billion for the first quarter, thanks to rising deposits and lower borrowing rates. The profit was 10 percent lower than last year, but better than expected.
The economic meltdown many countries are experiencing is likely to last longer than typical recessions and be followed by a weaker than average recovery, the International Monetary Fund said today.
Fidelity Investments, responding to what it called continuing challenges as the recession lingers, told employees in all but its lowest-echelon bonus pool that they will not get merit increases this year.
The court-appointed receiver for the Stanford Group Company of Houston yesterday filed suit against 66 Stanford brokers seeking to return of more than $40 million in sales commissions and upfront loans.
Stocks are slipping following a Philadelphia Federal Reserve report that regional manufacturing shrank again in April.
The number of newly laid-off Americans requesting unemployment insurance benefits fell last week, a sign that job cuts could be easing.
Michigan regulators say brokerage firms Citigroup Inc. and Wachovia Corp. have paid $2.37 million to the state after an investigation into the sale of auction rate securities.
Investment bank Piper Jaffray Cos. said Wednesday that its first-quarter loss widened, but results were better than analysts had forecast.
Requiring annuities or other fixed-income products be included as an option in 401(k) plans is being considered by the House Education and Labor Committee, said Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., chairman of the committee’s Health, Employment Labor and Pensions Subcommittee.
UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank, said today it expects a first quarter loss of nearly 2 billion Swiss francs ($1.75 billion) and announced plans to cut 8,700 jobs worldwide by the end of next year.
The Labor Department said Wednesday that consumer prices edged down 0.1 percent last month as a drop in energy prices offset the biggest rise in tobacco prices in more than a decade. It was a better performance than the 0.1 percent rise in the Consumer Price Index that economists had expected.
Charles Schwab says its earnings fell 29% in the first quarter, but results easily beat Wall Street's expectations.
