A downbeat report from the Royal Bank of Scotland PLC today clouded a week of earnings updates that started with suggestions that the country's lenders were over the worst of the financial crisis — almost exactly two years after the credit squeeze took hold.
Aggressive hiring by regional broker-dealers is likely to continue for the rest of the year, coming mostly at the expense of the wirehouses, according to industry executives and analysts.
American International Group Inc. said today director Harvey Golub will become Monday its non-executive chairman, replacing retiring Chairman Edward M. Liddy. Golub, 70, was elected to the AIG board in May 2009.
In afternoon European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 tumbled 1.1 percent to 4,637.22, Germany's DAX slipped 0.6 percent to 5,339.85 and France's CAC dropped 0.9 percent to 3,445.97.
Consumer confidence for August has turned upward, reversing a slide of the past two months, according to a report from RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.
U.S. employers throttled back on layoffs in July, cutting just 247,000 jobs, the fewest in a year, and the unemployment rate dipped to 9.4 percent, its first decline in 15 months.
A federal judge in Miami is due to learn if a settlement has been finalized in the high-stakes attempt by the U.S. government to obtain names of suspected tax evaders with secret accounts at Swiss bank UBS AG.
The troubled insurer made $1.82 billion during the second quarter ended June 30. Of that, $311 million, or $2.30 per share, was attributable to common shareholders because the U.S. government owns 80% of the company after bailing it out last year.
The Labor Department said that initial claims for jobless benefits dropped to a seasonally adjusted 550,000 for the week ending Aug. 1, down from an upwardly revised figure of 588,000 in the previous week.
Administration officials have estimated the tripling of the $1 billion program could fund an additional 500,000 new car sales, giving automakers a late summer boost after months of ragged sales.
Standard & Poor's Rating Services today downgraded The Phoenix Cos. Inc., a day after the insurer reported a huge second-quarter loss.
Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. said today its second-quarter profit fell 31 percent amid losses tied to foreign currency translation and a charge from selling its stake in Orc Software.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has slapped Ameritas Investment Corp. with a fine after one of its brokers encouraged clients to buy unsuitable variable universal life insurance policies to help pay for college costs and retirement.
The section 529 college savings plan industry is getting its ducks in a row before an Aug. 14 deadline for comments to be considered before the Department of the Treasury's Office of Economic Policy issues a report on the programs next month.
Sun Life Financial today reported a 13.8% gain in net income for the second quarter, compared with the same period in 2008.
Societe Generale SA said today its net profit fell 52 percent in the second quarter as the French bank wrote down its derivatives holdings and suffered increased losses on bad loans.
The ADP National Employment Report, a closely watched precursor to the government's report, said today that employment decreased by 371,000 in July versus a revised decline of 463,000 jobs in June.
The New York-based insurance broker and consulting firm said it lost $193 million, or 37 cents per share. It earned $65 million, or 12 cents per share, during the same quarter last year.
Alternative asset manager Fortress Investment Group LLC said today that its second-quarter loss narrowed as it cut expenses and recorded a special non-cash gain on affiliate investments.
