While global gold prices are expected to surge strongly in 2013, local experts have yet to give any predictions for development of domestic gold prices as new rules on gold trading have just taken effect. Most large banks worldwide such as Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, UBS and Bank of America have predicted the precious metal to shoot up to over US$1,800 an ounce this year, explaining that many countries,... 

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday said it had downgraded the ratings of major US banks, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. The firm said it had revisited ratings on 37 of the world’s largest banks, part of a process of “applying its new ratings criteria for banks.” S&P announced revised criteria... 

JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America were hit with new suits over subprime mortgage securities purchased by a German bank which nearly collapsed from losses on the investments, court documents showed Friday. Sealink Funding, which manages assets once held by Germany’s Landesbank Sachsen, filed suit in a New York court over losses on $4 billion on packaged mortgage investments — $2.4 billion... 

Billionaire Warren Buffett threw a lifeline to Bank of America on Thursday, announcing he would invest $5 billion in the beleaguered US banking giant, a move that sent its stock price soaring. “Bank of America is a strong, well-led company,” Buffett said in a statement released by BofA, the United States’s largest bank in terms of deposits. “I am impressed with the profit-generating... 

US stocks rallied on Thursday as eurozone leaders clinched a deal to bail out Greece, boosting financial stocks that had been battered in recent weeks by fears of a European debt crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 152.50 points (1.21 per cent) to close at 12,724.41. The broader S&P 500 climbed 17.96 points (1.35 per cent) to 1,343.80, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 20.20... 

Bank of America said on Tuesday that it lost $9.1 billion in the second quarter, due to its record-breaking settlement over subprime mortgage claims stemming from the financial crisis. Its earnings amounted to a swing into a loss of 90 cents a share, in line with analysts’ forecasts after the bank set aside $14 billion last month to compensate angry investors for their losses on dodgy mortgage-backed... 

Bank of America said Wednesday it would set aside $14 billion to settle claims from angry investors for losses on dodgy mortgage-backed securities whose collapse triggered the 2008 financial crisis. Hoping to put its disastrous 2008 purchase of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial behind it, Bank of America said it would pay a record $8.5 billion to a group of 22 large private investment groups who... 

It was a brutal week for US stock markets, as investors sold-off shares on signs that growth in the world’s largest economy was slowing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 1.4 per cent by Friday, posting a sixth straight week of losses for the first time since October, 2002. The Nasdaq fell 2.9 per cent and the S&P 500 fell two percent. Most of the declines early in the week appeared... 

Several major US banks are close to an agreement with the Wall Street regulator to settle fraud allegations related to the “toxic” mortgages behind the 2008 financial crisis, a report said Friday. An initial agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could be settled next week, the Wall Street Journal said, citing sources close to the case, noting penalties would likely... 

US stocks dropped sharply Tuesday after Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned that high oil prices could spark inflation and stall the country’s economic recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 168.32 points (1.38 per cent) at 12,058.02. The broader S&P 500 index dropped 20.89 points (1.57 per cent) to 1,306.33, and the tech-focused Nasdaq fell 44.86 points (1.61 per cent) to...