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Three of the largest banks operating in St. Louis flunked the government’s stress test last week and will have to raise new capital. They include Bank of America, ranked No. 2 in St. Louis market share, along with fifth-ranked Regions Bank and sixth-ranked PNC Financial, the new owner of National City Bank.
What […]

The Obama administration lost a bid to add a powerful weapon in its fight against foreclosure Thursday, after the Senate voted down a proposal to allow bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages.
The defeat left many housing advocates questioning the effectiveness of the president’s loan modification plan. The so-called cramdown provision, which would allow judges to […]

Financial regulators must strike a delicate balance between protecting consumers and not choking off credit, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday.
"We should not attempt to impose restrictions on credit providers so onerous that they prevent the development of new products and services," Bernanke said in a speech in Washington, D.C. "That said, the […]

Britain’s Conservatives will consider changing the Bank of England’s inflation target to take more account of housing costs if they win the next election, said George Osborne, the party’s finance spokesman.
The central bank currently is required to keep inflation at 2 percent based on the consumer price index. The gauge, which doesn’t include […]

The International Monetary Fund, dismissed as increasingly irrelevant when the world economy was booming, will now wield more than $1 trillion to help bring it back to life.
Leaders from the world’s most powerful nations, meeting in London yesterday, agreed to triple the money the IMF can lend to rescue crisis-stricken nations, to $750 […]

Housing prices in 20 major cities fell at record monthly and annual levels in January, according to a private report issued Tuesday, with prices down 2.8% from December and 19% from a year earlier.
The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index, a comparison of price changes recorded when homes are resold, is considered to be one […]

U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger denied motions by former executives at Qwest Communications International Inc. to dismiss civil fraud claims made by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC alleges that five former employees of the Denver-based telecommunications company artificially inflated Qwest’s share price by misrepresenting one-time "IRU" sales as recurring revenue.
Former Qwest […]

The Obama administration is looking for a way to prop up struggling auto-parts suppliers, possibly through a lending facility to centralize aid to hundreds of companies, a person familiar with the matter said.
Finding a mechanism to offer assistance is pivotal, because there are so many partsmakers it would be difficult for the Treasury […]

General Motors Corp’s product chief and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz will retire at the end of the year, bringing to a close a legendary automotive career that spanned 46 years and included top jobs at all three Detroit automakers.
Lutz, 76, will transition to a new role effective April 1, as vice chairman and senior […]

Congressional Democrats and the Bush White House have reached an agreement in principle on providing stopgap support for the U.S. auto industry, according to congressional and industry sources.
The deal would keep the most troubled companies out of bankruptcy court at least through the end of March. While the money is less than the automakers […]