Bank of America has joined other big banks this week in reporting a big second-quarter profit.

Investors are again looking to Washington for clues about the stock market.

A big worry on Wall Street is that General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC might not be able to prove by Tuesday’s deadline that they can repay billions of dollars in loans and return to profitability.

Investors are hoping the rescue of Citigroup will help lift some of the uncertainty hounding the financial sector and the overall economy.

Stocks finished at their lows of the session after the automakers pleaded for relief during a second day of hearings in Washington. The heads of General Motors Ford and Chrysler are asking for a massive infusion of cash to prevent millions of layoffs and stave off bankruptcy.

The Nasdaq composite index finished with a modest gain, while the Dow Jones industrials lost 126 points, a relatively mild drop after the blue chips fell 2,271 during the previous eight trading days. wspa.com offers help for the problems with a Live Chat with Upstate Financial Analyst Bob Nachman to get your economic questions answered starting at 5pm at wspa.com.

WASHINGTON - Federal antitrust regulators on Friday cleared Wells Fargo’s $11.7 billion acquisition of Wachovia Corp., capping a weeklong battle for the bank, based in Charlotte.

Stocks are opening higher with Wall Street is looking to recover Thursday from near-panic selling that has cascaded through global markets in the past week.

The Dow set a new record for a one-day point drop and also fell below 10,000 for the first time since 2004. The Dow fell as much as 800 points before finally closing with a loss of about 350.

Financial markets are showing some signs of stabilizing following investor Warren Buffett’s $5 billion bet on Goldman Sachs Group Inc

Wall Street is moderately lower in early trading as investors nerously await further news about the government’s plan to buy $700 billion in banks’ mortgage debt.

Stock prices are soaring in early Friday trading. President Bush will appear in the Rose Garden Friday to review series of actions the federal government is taking to deal with instability in the financial markets.

The Federal Reserve says it pumped $55 billion into the nation’s financial system. Stocks open higher Thursday after Wednesday rout.

Stocks are tumbling again, with investors still anxious even after the government bailed out American International Group Inc.

The major stock market averages posted a modest recovery after Monday’s huge decline.