The U.S. dollar inched higher against the yen on Wednesday after stronger-than-expected U.S. retail sales data supported views that the Federal Reserve won't cut interest rates next month.

Oppenheimer cut its earnings estimates on some U.S. brokers based on its outlook on the capital markets and sizable estimated revenue reversals due to an accounting rule that lets companies elect to use fair value for certain assets and liabilities.

Bank of America says it is seeing rising credit costs, as it continues to wade through a challenging economic cycle.

The judge presiding over Russia's $22.5 billion lawsuit against the Bank of New York Mellon insisted on Tuesday the case move toward a quick conclusion after more than a year of procedural delays.

France's biggest retail bank, Credit Agricole, announced a 5.9 billion euros ($9.1 billion) rights issue to shore up its capital after further writedowns at its Calyon investment bank, sending its shares down sharply.

Up to 60 percent of Europeans may bank online by 2020, a level already reached by Sweden and Denmark today, Deutsche Bank said in a report on Tuesday.

European equities ended slightly lower on Tuesday, as signs of resilience in U.S. retail sales was not enough to eclipse inflation fears that hit UK stocks, while banks fell on renewed concerns over asset writedowns.

UK housing sentiment slumped to record lows in April, underscoring continued weakness in the sector and piling pressure on the Bank of England at a time when snowballing inflation could force it to keep interest rates on hold.  

Westpac Banking Corp agreed to pay $17.6 billion in shares for smaller rival St George Bank in a tie-up that will create Australia's largest bank by market value.

The U.S. dollar rallied broadly Tuesday after a report on April retail sales beat forecasts and supported views that the Federal Reserve will probably stop cutting interest rates next month.

JPMorgan, acquiring rival investment bank Bear Stearns amid one of the worst market slumps ever, so far has extended jobs to about 6,000 out of Bear's nearly 14,000 employees, a person familiar with the situation said on Monday.

HSBC writes down $3.2 billion in bad debt and says 5% of US mortages are 2-months or more overdue. But profit, shares rise.

European shares closed broadly higher Monday, paring some of the losses from the previous session, as heavyweight energy stocks were supported by high oil prices and banks benefited from HSBC's first-quarter results.

The dollar rose versus the Japanese yen and Swiss franc Monday as investors snapped up riskier assets such as stocks, encouraged by a dip in oil prices and unexpectedly strong earnings from HSBC.

Westpac Banking Corp, Australia's fourth-biggest lender, said it had entered talks on an all-share bid for St George Bank, which has a market value of $14 billion, to create Australia's largest home lending and wealth management provider