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A battle broke out for control of Wachovia on Friday as Wells Fargo signed a $15.1 billion agreement to buy the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, while Citigroup and the federal regulators backing its earlier deal insisted that Citi's takeover bid go forward.

A big bank acquisition and hopes that a Wall Street bailout will pass Congress Friday afternoon pushed stocks higher, outweighing a weak jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which slid almost 350 points in the previous session, recently posted a 206-point gain, trading up 2%, at 10688.66. Investors' mood was boosted by news that Wachovia has agreed to sell itself to Wells Fargo in a $15.4 billion takeover that will require no government assistance, scrapping a federally backed deal with Citigroup. Wachovia shares surged more than 71% in recent action and Wells Fargo rose about 8% while Citi was...

NEW YORK - Wells Fargo says it is acquiring Wachovia in an all-stock transaction worth about $15.1 billion, as Wachovia ends talks with rival suitor Citigroup.

A fund that invests cash for about 1,000 colleges and private schools suddenly froze withdrawals this week, leaving school finance managers scrambling to make sure they have enough money for payroll and other bills. For 34 years, colleges and schools parked cash in the now $9.3 billion fund, which offered returns slightly above U.S. Treasury bills. That it now might take years for the institutions to get all of their money back shows how widely credit-market woes are reverberating beyond Wall Street. Monday, Wachovia Corp., the fund's trustee, said it was terminating the fund, liquidating its assets, distributing the proceeds...

CNBC's Mad Money showhost Jim Cramer made an on-air apology last night (9/30/08) for recommending Wachovia stock just 2-weeks ago. His recommendation followed a Mad Money appearance by Wachovia's CEO Robert Steel. On Sept. 15, the day Steel appeared on the Cramer's TV show, Wachovia stock closed at $10.71 per share. On Sept. 29th, it closed at $1.84 per share. Youtube likely has the clip showing Steel's appearance. And last night after Wachovia's implosion, comes Cramer's apology: "I let you down, because I wasn't skeptical enough." Compare Cramer's "I let you down because I wasn't skeptical enough" statement with America's...

Call it the birth of Citichovia. In another day of Wall Street’s epic saga, news came today that Citigroup will acquire Wachovia’s banking operations for $2.1 billion in stock and will assume another $53 billion in Wachovia debt. Which leaves Wachovia customers scratching their heads, as Washington Mutual customers were last week. But there’s a big difference between the Wachovia and WaMu dealings — time.

Wachovia Bank, a major institution, has seen its stock plummet and its continued viability called into question, as the nation's financial crisis muddles forward. [Update: shortly after publication of this article, Citigroup agreed to purchase Wachovia's banking operations in a deal facilitated by the FDIC.] Largely ignored in this crisis is the key role played by Herbert and Marion Sandler, founders of Golden West Financial (GDW), one of the largest savings and loans in the nation. Wachovia purchased GDW for $24 billion dollars in 2006. This was one of the worst merger and acquisition deals of all time for the...

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Federal regulators are pressing Wachovia Corp. to sell itself, and Wells Fargo has emerged as the leading candidate to buy the Charlotte bank amid intensifying talks, according to reports late Sunday. The Wall Street Journal reported that Wachovia is also talking with Citigroup but that San Francisco-based Wells appeared to have the upper hand. Even as Congress unveiled a bailout plan to help banks offload troubled assets, Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department officials were pushing for a more dramatic solution for Wachovia, the New York Times reported. A sale would mean that an N.C. institution that became a nationwide...

Wachovia Corp. is reportedly in preliminary talks with suitors including Banco Santander SA, Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc., and the bank's shares slid lower in late trading on concerns it may take another big mortgage-related write-down. A sale to either Banco Santander, Wells Fargo, or Citigroup would make Wachovia the latest victim of the ongoing credit crisis, as the bank has succumbed to the triple threat of falling real estate prices, overaggressive lending and panic in the credit markets.

Although Wachovia Corp. has been mentioned as one of the more troubled big U.S. banks, at least some analysts believe it is not at risk and is unlikely to suffer the same fate of Washington Mutual Inc. They also believe that Wachovia will be able to survive on its own, without merging with another big financial institution. Still, shares of the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank plunged Friday as investors, the day after WaMu's failure, shifted their focus to other financial institutions that also suffer under the weight of mounting losses tied to toxic assets. Shares plummeted $4.90, or 35.8 percent, to...

Wachovia has begun preliminary talks with Citigroup about a potential merger, people briefed on the matter said Friday afternoon. Feelers have also been extended between Wachovia and Wells Fargo and Spain’s Banco Santander, these people said. These talks are early, however, and no deal may emerge from them.

The Financial Times this evening offers an update on the Morgan Stanley (MS) merger scenario that claims Morgan is more interested in taking financing from China Investment Corp., China’s sovereign fund, than it is in merging with Wachovia Bank (WB). Both firms have been rumored in the last 24 hours as potential saviors for Morgan’s rapidly eroding share price.

Morgan Stanley, one of the two last major American investment banks, is considering a merger with Wachovia or another bank, according to people briefed on the discussions. Morgan Stanley’s chief executive, John J. Mack, received a telephone call on Wednesday from Wachovia expressing interest in the Wall Street bank. Morgan Stanley is considering other options as well. Other banks have also expressed interest in Morgan Stanley. The talks are preliminary and no deal may emerge, these people cautioned. But if one is reached, it would mark the end of Morgan Stanley, one of the descendants of the original J. P....

Posted on Wed, Aug. 27, 2008 Wachovia cutting home-equity credit lines By Harold Brubaker Inquirer Staff Writer In the middle of remodeling the kitchen of their Gloucester County house, Paul and Julianne Gablin received a letter from Wachovia Bank canceling the line of credit they were using to pay for the project. Luckily for them, the Gablins own a house in Florida with another line of credit from Wachovia and were able to tap it to pay for the custom cabinets delivered yesterday. Still, the episode has soured him on Wachovia because he has always made his loan payments, Paul...

The global financial crisis is set to get worse, with a large US bank likely to collapse in the next few months, a former IMF chief economist has warned. Kenneth Rogoff's comments came as shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sank on a report that the home lenders would, in effect, be nationalised. Despite hopes that the US economy had turned the corner, Mr Rogoff claimed it was "not out of the woods". "I would even go further to say 'the worst is to come'," he said. "We're not just going to see mid-sized banks go under in the...

New York securities probe widens New York attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, is expanding investigation to include JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia Suzy Jagger Andrew Cuomo, the New York Attorney General, has renewed his onslaught against America's biggest banks, announcing that he is now pursuing three other financial institutions for compensation from the auction rate securities (ARS) debacle. Mr Cuomo said that he had contacted Wall Street banks JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and the American mortgage lender, Wachovia, and insisted that they begin settlement talks with lawyers representing the state of New York. On Thursday, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch...

Wachovia Corp, the fourth-largest U.S. bank, on Tuesday posted an $8.86 billion second-quarter loss, slashed its dividend and announced 6,350 job cuts after losses tied to mortgages soared. Its shares fell $1.67, or 12.7 percent, to $11.51 in premarket trading. The net loss for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank equaled $4.20 per share, and compared with a profit of $2.34 billion, or $1.22, a year earlier. Excluding items, the loss was $1.27 per share, compared with the average analyst estimate of $1.30, according to Reuters Estimates. "These bottom-line results are disappointing and unacceptable," Chairman Lanty Smith said in a statement....

Charlotte bracing for Wachovia job cuts06:29 PM EDT on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 By MARK BOONE / WCNC E-mail Mark: MBoone@WCNC.com CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Mecklenburg County’s second-largest employer said Tuesday it would cut nearly 11,000 jobs as Wachovia announced a second quarter loss of $8.9 billion. The bank employs more than 20,000 people, ranking just under Carolinas Healthcare System in number of workers, according to data from the Charlotte Chamber. Many of Wachovia’s positions are expected to be trimmed from the company’s Charlotte offices, said Dr. Tony Plath, an associate professor of finance at UNC-Charlotte. “Any way you look at...

Securities regulators from several U.S. states raided the St. Louis headquarters of Wachovia Securities on Thursday as part of a broad investigation into questionable practices involving auction rate securities, Missouri officials said. Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's office said the "special inspection" at the Wachovia affiliate, the former A.G. Edwards, concerned the $330 billion auction rate securities meltdown. It said regulators were looking for information about Wachovia Securities' sales practices, internal evaluations of the auction rate securities market, and marketing strategies. A spokeswoman for Wachovia was not immediately able to comment. The bank owns 62 percent of Wachovia Securities...