Business and Finance news

American International Group Inc. averted the worst financial collapse in history by accepting an $85 billion federal loan and giving the government a majority stake.
The U.S. reversed its opposition to a bailout of AIG, the nation's biggest insurer by assets, after private efforts failed and the Federal Reserve concluded that “a disorderly failure […]

Bain Capital is among private equity firms considering buying certain Lehman Brothers Holdings assets, Bloomberg News reported Monday on its Web site.
Bain Capital, based in Boston, is eyeing Lehman's investment-management operations. Among the other firms considering a deal are Clayton Dubilier & Rice Inc. and Hellman & Friedman, Bloomberg reported easy quick payday loans.
Lehman, battered […]

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's decision to seize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may choke off the biggest source of funding for financial companies suffering from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.
When Paulson took control of Fannie and Freddie on Sept. 7, he scrapped dividends on the preferred stock of the government- sponsored […]

Asian policy makers, whose banking industries have largely averted the crises in U.S. and Europe, said they are monitoring developments in the world's biggest economy to ensure minimal impact on their financial systems.
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. plans to file for bankruptcy after Barclays Plc and Bank of America Corp. abandoned talks to buy […]

Ukraine's government proposes to narrow the country's budget deficit to 1.4 percent of gross domestic product next year from around 2 percent as it seeks to lower Europe's highest inflation rate.
The 2009 draft budget assumes economic growth of 6 percent and inflation of 9.5 percent, Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk said at a cabinet […]

Less than one-third of U.S. banks will be fully compliant with the U.S. government’s identity theft prevention rules by the Nov. 1 deadline, according to a new study.
With the deadline looming, research by Needham, Mass.-based TowerGroup found that many U.S. financial services institutions have mistakenly considered compliance with the “Red Flags Rules,” as they are […]

The budget deficit will jump by $246 billion to $407 billion this year, the Congressional Budget Office estimates in a report released Tuesday.
"Over the long run, growing budget deficits and the resulting increases in federal debt would lead to slower economic growth," the agency said.
The budget deficit shot up 153% from last year’s shortfall […]

The European Commission cut its growth outlook for the euro area for the rest of this year and predicted a recession for Germany, the region's largest economy.
The 15-nation euro region's economy will probably stagnate this quarter after shrinking in the previous three months for the first time since the euro was introduced in […]

Boeing Co’s (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) threat to quit a $35 billion aerial refueling competition has won it valuable time to prepare a new bid, and removes a potentially divisive issue from the tight 2008 presidential election.
But the Chicago-based company, which has 27,000 machinists on strike at the moment, may still face […]

The U.K. economy is contracting for the first time in at least a decade, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research said.
Gross domestic product dropped 0.2 percent in the June to August period and fell 0.1 percent in the three months through July, the group, whose clients include the Bank of England […]