BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Morgan Stanley fell again Friday as the firm battles unceasing and unsettled questions about its viability.[...]

IBM gives the tech sector a bit of breathing room by posting a 20% gain in third-quarter profit and reaffirming its earnings forecast for the year.[...]

As part of its effort to prove that the business model behind Google’s YouTube unit depends on copyright infringement, Viacom is targeting early investors who seeded the video-sharing service.[...]

Wells Fargo & Co. may get as much as 80% of Wachovia Corp.'s deposits, with the remainder likely going to Citigroup Inc., according to a published report.[...]

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Facing skeptical and angry members of Congress, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. chief executive Richard Fuld blames the bankruptcy of his company on a "lack of confidence" on Monday, saying in congressional testimony he and other executives did everything they could to protect the failed investment bank.[...]

Citigroup said late on Saturday that a New York court issued an order extending its agreement under which it has exclusive rights to negotiate a purchase of Wachovia Corp.[...]

U.S. stocks sink, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging as much as 700 points, with legislators in the House of Representatives rejecting the government’s $700 billion rescue plan for the financial sector.[...]

Wachovia becomes the latest financial-services giant to succumb to the global credit crunch under a sell-off of operations to Citigroup Inc.[...]

Neuberger Berman, the mutual-fund arm of Lehman Brothers Holdings, has been sold for $2.15 billion to private-equity companies Bain Capital Partners and Hellman & Friedman.[...]

Freddie Mac, taken over by the government in the wake of the subprime-mortgage mess, says it's been served a federal subpoena over accounting and governance matters. Separately, the SEC's opened an inquiry, the mortgage giant says.[...]

U.S. financial stocks fail to get a boost from the government’s $700 billion rescue plan, as Wachovia becomes the latest victim of the global credit upheaval.[...]

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is near closing its deal for a 20% stake in Morgan Stanley, a report says Monday, as the Japanese financial giant continues its purchase of U.S. assets.[...]

TIANJIN, China (MarketWatch) -- China International Capital Corp. Chairman Li Jiange said Sunday that as an investment bank CICC doesn't have sufficient capital to make overseas acquisitions. Li, who took up his post in July, made the comment on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in response to a [...]

Northern Trust Corp. (NTRS) told clients of its security lending business that they stand to lose money due to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s (LEHMQ) bankruptcy and the subprime mess, the New York Post reported on its Web site Saturday. In a conference call with clients Friday, a Northern Trust official [...]

The number of financial companies cutting or suspending dividends is increasing dramatically as the credit crisis worsens, according to figures from Standard & Poor's. "September has been a very bad month for dividends," said senior index analyst Howard Silverblatt, who noted that dividend suspensions by just four financial giants this [...]

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- It is a small comfort to many banks, their shares beaten black and blue, that helpful traders more than likely will name them as acquisition targets of HSBC Holdings PLC . Without ranking the following according how deep into the quicksand they've sunk in the credit crisis, [...]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Washington Mutual were volatile Thursday after a report that it is in talks with private equity firms about arranging a takeover of the company. Its shares rose more than 15% in early trade, but then pulled back.[...]

FTSE 100 index flat; Lloyds TSB, HSBC Holdings lower[...]

Most U.S. financial stocks dip, but news of Berkshire Hathaway’s move to invest up to $10 billion in Goldman Sachs inject hope into the sector.[...]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- McDonald's Corp. franchisees should feel little impact from Bank of America Corp.'s decision no longer to increase the size of outstanding loans. But a shaky credit market in the wake of Wall Street's recent financial shake up could throw a wrench into plans for some restaurant [...]

Wireless carrier T-Mobile launches the first handset to be powered by Google Inc.’s Android operating system.[...]

Crude-oil futures leap, posting their biggest one-day price increase since trading of the commodity began in 1984.[...]

U.S. stock market futures came off lows Monday after Microsoft announced a $40 billion share buyback and Morgan Stanley reportedly agreed to sell a minority stake to Mitsubishi UFJ.[...]

(This item was originally published Thursday.) Of ZAWYA DOW JONES DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones) -- Cracks appeared Thursday in the economies of the oil-rich Persian Gulf states where banks are finally reining in lending in the wake of the biggest crisis to hit Wall Street since the Great Depression. Cushioned [...]