Coolmira

Bernanke Rejects Idea U.S. Will Employ Stress Tests to Nationalize Banks Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke rejected the idea that officials plan to use reviews of banks’ balance sheets as a pretext for government takeovers of the nation’s largest lenders.

U.S. Stocks Climb Most in Month as Bernanke's Testimony Lifts Bank Shares U.S. stocks advanced the most in a month, halting a six-day decline, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s statement that banks need not be nationalized helped lift equities from their lowest valuations in two decades.

Consumer Confidence in U.S. Plunges, Home Prices Drop as Recession Deepens U.S. consumer confidence collapsed this month and home values plunged in December, the latest evidence of a deepening economic slump that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke today warned may last into 2010.

AIG May Abandon Asset-Sale Plan, Hand Stakes Directly to U.S. Government American International Group Inc. may scrap a plan to repay a $60 billion U.S. government loan by selling businesses, after failing to find enough promising bidders, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

Costas, Hutchins Reunite to Start Firm After Failed UBS Fund Dillon Read John Costas and Michael Hutchins, who ran UBS AG’s hedge fund Dillon Read Capital Management LLC, are planning to start a financial services firm, according to people familiar with their plans.

Hearst Will Sell or Close San Francisco Chronicle After Losing $50 Million Hearst Corp. will sell or close the San Francisco Chronicle, the second newspaper the company has put on the block this year, after the publication lost more than $50 million in 2008.