CHARLOTTE, N.C. Bank of America Corp. said Wednesday it lost $5.2 billion during the final three months of 2009 as consumers struggled to make their mortgage and credit card payments and the bank repaid its government bailout money.Bank of America said its loss, which reflected payment of preferred dividends, compared with a loss of $2.4 [...]

WASHINGTON  Members of the U.S. Congress begin 2010 scrambling to reduce the double-digit U.S. jobless rate, knowing their own jobs will be at stake in the November election if they fail to deliver.With about one in 10 Americans out of work, the highest percentage in 25 years, President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats — who control [...]

SEATTLE  From a TV soap opera advocating savings in the Dominican Republic to banking by motorbike in Ethiopia and India, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s most recent grants to promote global development have a decidedly more creative bent.But the ingenuity of the recipients of the $38 million in grants announced Wednesday did not result [...]

WASHINGTON  A top White House economic adviser says reducing the country’s 10 percent unemployment rate is essential to reining in the growing budget deficit.At the same time, Christina Romer is declining to predict what the jobless rate will be this fall when members of Congress face re-election.More jobs were lost last month after slight gains [...]

LONDON  European and U.S. stock markets recovered some earlier losses Thursday, helped by a string of upbeat trading updates from U.S. retailers a day ahead of crucial jobs data.In Europe, Germany’s DAX index closed down 14.97 points, or 0.3 percent, at 6,019.36 while France’s CAC-40 closed 7.13 points, or 0.2 percent, higher at 4,024.80. The [...]

LONDON The battle for British candy maker Cadbury PLC was thrown further into doubt Tuesday when a major Kraft Foods Inc. shareholder voted not to endorse the U.S. company’s hostile takeover bid, even as Kraft sweetened its offer with more cash.Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said it had voted against Kraft’s proposal to issue [...]

Oil prices fell below $75 a barrel Monday as the dollar strengthened and several OPEC ministers said they don’t expect their group to change production levels at a meeting later this month.By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for January delivery was down 67 cents to $74.80 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile [...]

There have been concerns that the Copenhagen summit will not bear a strong agreement.But analysts assess the presence of so many heads of state that will change the estimates.The UN’s annual meeting to discuss the climate is usually attended by environment ministers.Delegated ari 192 countries will attend the summit are trying to design a new [...]