meltdown

Hedge funds, which experienced sharp drops in assets during the credit crisis, now hold an all-time high of more than $2 trillion in capital, according to a new survey by Hedge Fund Research Inc. The figure is 50% higher than crisis-driven lows reached in the first quarter of 2009.

The Japanese automaker has extended its halt on vehicle production at its plants in Japan through March 22, as the country continues to reel from the devastation of last week's massive 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

In a case with wider implications for the financial industry, jurors in a class-action securities fraud suit found that BankAtlantic Bankcorp was liable to shareholders for about $42 million for making false statements about the bank's real estate portfolio and net income.

Historians will look back on Washington's bailout of GM and Wall Street as the right move. That's because it's now clear that the costs of doing nothing would have been far higher, and it turns out that taxpayers may suffer only limited losses on this economic Hail Mary pass.

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett extracted onerous terms from Goldman Sachs when he saved it from a potential meltdown. Two years later, Wall Street is healthy again, Goldman wants Buffett out of its hair, and he's looking at a $3.5 billion profit on that $5 billion lifeline.

Here's news from the business world and other money matters to watch out for Thursday (last updated at 7:38 a.m. Eastern time): GM Earnings Top Expectations: General Motors reported net earnings of $1.3 billion in the second quarter on revenue of $33.2 billion. On a per-share basis, the Detroit...

Henry Paulson's just-published memoir "On the Brink" recalls the financial crisis as it unfolded in the fall of 2008. Far from a gossipy tell-all, it devotes the bulk of its pages to the cautionary tale of how the world's financial system nearly collapsed -- and what he tried to do about it.

A report by the Congressional Oversight Panel credits the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program with keeping the financial system from collapsing in late 2008, according to The New York Times. But the panel also criticizes Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner for keeping TARP's purpose vague --...

I have to hand it to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair: The former University of Massachusetts economics professor gets it right on key policy issues. She's right about ending the doctrine of too-big-to-fail, and now she's proposing an idea that I've been pushing with no effect...

The Federal Aviation Administration suffered a "widespread" computer malfunction Thursday morning, sending key parts of the national air traffic control system haywire and affecting Logan International in Boston, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, and all three major airports in New York. Authorities...