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More U.S. investors are targeting Canadian companies for proxy battles to boost the value of their stakes, encouraged by favorable laws and activist attacks on such blue chips as Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) and Research In Motion.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, were partners for years at a Washington law firm that represented a Who's Who of big banks and other companies at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud, a Reuters inquiry shows.

European banks are preparing for a potential worsening of the region's sovereign and banking crisis, with many firms stockpiling cash and cutting back on loans to new clients as they seek to protect themselves against a possible seizing-up of financial markets.

Investors pessimistic about the prospects of U.S. banks and brokers have some good company: Wall Street chief executives.

The U.S. futures regulator unanimously approved on Monday tighter limits on how brokerage firms can use customer funds, a measure the now-bankrupt MF Global had encouraged the agency to delay.

The lawyer who piloted United Airlines through the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in that industry's history cautioned that American Airlines cannot just rely on the restructuring path cut by competitors.

The unemployment rate fell to a 2-1/2 year low of 8.6 percent in November and companies stepped up hiring, further evidence the economic recovery was gaining momentum.

David Kotz, the top watchdog of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is facing mounting criticism over some of the investigative techniques that have won him plaudits on Capitol Hill.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Friday for rapid EU treaty change to remedy the root causes of the euro zone's debt crisis but warned that Europeans faced a long, hard "marathon" to restore lost credibility.

Major U.S. retailers showed a big rift between winners and losers in November, as a strong turnout on "Black Friday," the busiest shopping day of the year, encouraged some, while others did not experience the swell of buying they had hoped for.