Citigroup may put more employees on commission or offer them larger base salaries as it tries to retain key staffers without running afoul of laws limiting executive pay at banks that receive government funds. Three people familiar with the matter said the bank has examined a series of possible moves, including special stock-based bonuses, or offering employees a percentage of their group’s ...

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will provide Congress with a fresh assessment of the country’s fragile economic health that probably will note some recent improvements, but still warn that it will take time — perhaps years — for the economy to get back to normal. At the same time, Bernanke is likely to face tough questions by lawmakers at a hearing Tuesda...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is expected to direct about 10 of the 19 banks undergoing government stress tests to boost their capital, according to several people familiar with the matter, a move that officials hope will quell fears about the solvency of the financial sector. The exact number of banks affected remains under discussion. It could include Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America, Citig...

General Motors Corp. may be more likely to end up in bankruptcy based on the Obama administration’s willingness to place Chrysler LLC into court protection to safeguard union health-care benefits. With GM and its biggest bondholders at odds over resolving $27 billion in unsecured claims by a June 1 deadline, the Chrysler model indicates that President Barack Obama may resort to bankruptcy to en...

The head of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, yesterday suggested the swine flu pandemic alert would eventually move to its highest level. But the woman in charge of the global fight against the H1N1 outbreak said a move to level six should not be taken as a cause for panic. “Level six does not mean, in any way, that we are facing the end of the world. It is important to make thi...

Swine flu cases reached 1,085 worldwide, spreading to 21 countries and every major region of the U.S., health officials said. The symptoms, no more serious than those of seasonal flu, may worsen as seasons change. In the U.S., the H1N1 virus has been confirmed by laboratory tests in 286 patients in each of nine regions tracked by the U.S. census, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The new H1N1 swine flu has infected 286 people in 36 U.S. states and it is likely to spread to every state, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday. Most cases remain mild but 35 have been hospitalized, the CDC’s acting director, Dr. Richard Besser, told a news conference. A toddler who died in Texas last week remains the only death...

Americans and American businesses earning profits overseas will pay an estimated $210 billion dollars more in taxes over the next decade if Congress approves stricter international tax laws outlined by the Obama Administration Monday. The Administration is proposing severe restrictions on certain international tax deductions, as well as seeking mechanisms to extract more information from foreign b...

Bank of America (BAC: 10.43, 1.75, 20.16%) on Monday contradicted a report saying it was planning to raise $10 billion in capital. The Financial Times had reported that BofA was found by the government’s stress tests to need at least $10 billion of capital, and that the company was working on plans to raise new money. “The Financial Times report is completely inaccurate,” BofA spokesman Scot...

While it may be too soon to call a bottom in the struggling housing market, a industry gauge of home sales showed sales activity is now up from a year ago — and the average price of a home moved higher in March. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that its March pending existing home sales index rose 3.2% to 84.6, compared to a reading of 82 in February. The reading of March sa...