Frank Quattrone, a star Silicon Valley investment banker who advised hundreds of companies during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, has been quietly counseling about 20 technology companies since March of last year, when he started Qatalyst Partners, a boutique merchant bank.

Huntsman said Tuesday two investment banks will pay it a $1.7 billion settlement over its accusation they schemed to scuttle a $6.5 billion buyout of the chemicals maker last year.

Wall Street’s great investment houses have never faced a serious foreign challenge in their own backyard. But as tectonic shifts reverberate through the banking industry, their overseas rivals are edging into some of the most lucrative corners of American finance.

As the financial crisis entered one of its darkest phases in October, a handful of the nation’s largest banks began holding daily telephone sessions. Murmurs were already emanating from Washington about the need for a wide-ranging regulatory overhaul, and Wall Street executives girded for a fight.

“We’re about to have a big problem,” one real estate expert told the New York Times.  “Foreclosures were bad last year? It’s going to get worse.”

Once heralded, New Jersey's Meadowlands Xanadu mall, like many other projects, is enmeshed in the fallout from the banking crisis, says the New York Times.

Cities across the U.S. have recently seen a spike in bike commuters, and businesses from New York to San Francisco are taking notice.

The Obama administration’s plan to help millions of troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure by reducing the size of their mortgage payments is just getting off the ground.