Technology, bank shares boost Wall Street

September 22nd, 2009 Wall Street firms fined over bad IPO informationWASHINGTON — An independent securities industry regulator on Tuesday announced fines totaling $425,000 against three Wall Street firms over supervisors' alleged failures to prevent customers from getting faulty information about a 2006 initial public offering. The firms — Citigroup Global Markets, UBS Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities — also were ordered to pay as much as $420,000 in restitution to customers who were mistakenly told they hadn't received share allocations in Vonage Holdings Corp., which provides an Internet-based phone service.

September 17th, 2009 Synchronoss shares jump after upgradeNEW YORK — Shares of Synchronoss Technologies Inc. got a boost Thursday after a Thomas Weisel Partners analyst upgraded the company, calling it "undervalued and overlooked" by investors.

September 14th, 2009 Movers roundup: OfficeMax, BiovailAmong the stock activity stories for Monday, Sept. 14, from AP Financial News: NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of office-supply retailer OfficeMax Inc.

September 14th, 2009 Report: Citigroup plans to pare US stakeNEW YORK — Citigroup Inc. is reportedly considering a plan in which the Treasury Department would sell part of its holdings in the bank, while the bank would issue new shares to the public as part of a multibillion-dollar stock offering.

May 9th, 2009 NEW YORK - Winning listings outnumbered losers by nearly seven to one on Friday, led by financial shares after the government announced late Thursday that top US banks had overall stronger balance sheets than widely believed. A slowing rate of job losses helped spur broad gains on Wall Street.

May 6th, 2009 CCB shares slip amid report BofA may reduce stakeHONG KONG — Shares of China Construction Bank Ltd., the country's second-biggest commercial lender by assets, slid Wednesday on worries Bank of America may sell part of its stake in the company to cope with mounting losses. The Chinese lender fell 0.4 percent to close at HK$4.75 in Hong Kong trade.

May 6th, 2009 BofA shares fall on reports of $34B shortfallNEW YORK — Bank of America stock is falling in premarket trading amid reports that it needs $34 billion in new capital. The Wall Street Journal and New York Times are reporting regulators are telling the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank it needs about $34 billion in capital based on results of government "stress tests." Both reports cite anonymous sources.

May 5th, 2009 Stocks mixed after prior day's big gainsNEW YORK — Caution returned to Wall Street Tuesday ahead of results of the government's stress tests of banks. Stocks were narrowly mixed in early trading following a big advance Monday that sent one key Wall Street indicator, the Standard & Poor's 500 index, into positive territory for the year and the Dow Jones industrials up more than 200 points.

April 29th, 2009 NEW YORK - Major US stock indices fell for a second straight day Tuesday as concerns over the economic impact of a growing swine-flu outbreak and the state of US banks overshadowed a massive jump in consumer confidence. There were 64 confirmed cases of swine flu in five US states, and alerts have been raised across the globe.

March 14th, 2009 NEW YORK - Wall Street stock indices continued a nearly week-long rally Friday, capping the best week since November amid some signs that the global economy may be stabilising. The rally followed gains in global markets as some major US banks have posted unexpected gains in the first two months of the year.

March 13th, 2009 NEW YORK - Wall Street continued its three-day rally with the three major indices up about four percent Thursday led by General Electric (GE) and Bank of America shares. General Electric gained 13 percent to $9.57 per share after it said a cut in its credit rating was unlikely to impact business, and Bank of America picked up 19 percent to $5.85.

February 24th, 2009 NEW YORK - Wall Street plunged Monday with the Dow Jones average and the S&P 500 index dropping to a 12 year low on concerns about dim economic outlook. Big technology companies like IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Apple declined sharply Monday on worries about a drop in business and consumer spending on technology hurt the tech sector.

February 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US government has warned America's biggest banks that it could become their biggest shareholder with voting rights if regulators decide they are not strong enough to weather a deeper-than-expected downturn in the economy. The Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and federal bank regulatory agencies announced Monday that the government might end up demanding a direct ownership stake in major banks after they undergo a tough 'stress test' shortly.

February 24th, 2009 NEW YORK - Troubled American financial giant Citigroup is in talks with the US government for it to take a larger stake in the company, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Monday. The bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the world, received a government cash injection of $45 billion last year, but is now seeking more state assistance in return for between 25 percent and 40 percent of the firm, the paper cited bank insiders as saying.

January 20th, 2009 NEW YORK - Wall Street plunged more than four percent on Inauguration Day Tuesday as bank woes spread while investors failed to find confidence from President Barack Obama's inauguration speech. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 330 points, or four percent, falling below 8,000 for the first time in 2009, while the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq indexes dropped more than five percent.