(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp, which has lost almost half of its market value this year, announced a broad reorganization on Tuesday that includes the departure of two senior executives. The biggest U.S. bank said after the market closed that Joe Price, head of consumer banking, and Sallie Krawcheck, head of global wealth and investment management, have left. Price was a former chief financial officer of the company, and Krawcheck was a former CFO of Citigroup, leader of its Smith Barney brokerage unit and frequently touted as the highest ranking woman in the financial services industry.

• Read more

(Reuters) - The number of jobs waiting to be filled edged up slightly in July but hiring dipped, preventing a much-needed boost to the struggling economic recovery, government data showed on Wednesday. There were about 3.23 million available jobs at the end of July, a small increase from June's 3.17 million, according to the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

• Read more

(Reuters) - HSBC (0005.HK) (HSBA.L), Europe's biggest bank, is to cut 3,000 jobs in Hong Kong over the next three years as it targets its first wave of an aggressive cost-cutting plan on five countries. The bank said on Wednesday the cuts would be made as Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver aims to cut annual costs by $3.5 billion.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Major stock indexes fell more than 2 percent on Tuesday on fears the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis was worsening and the U.S. economy was sliding back into recession. European equities also dropped, extending the previous session's 4 percent decline, with bank shares hitting a 29-month low on worries about the political handling of the euro zone debt crisis.

• Read more

(Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank shocked markets on Tuesday by setting an exchange rate cap on the soaring franc to stave off a recession, discouraging investors anxious about flagging global growth from using the currency as a safe haven. Using some of the strongest language from a central bank in the modern era, the SNB said it would no longer tolerate an exchange rate below 1.20 francs to the euro and would defend the target by buying other currencies in unlimited quantities.

• Read more

(Reuters) - The Carlyle Group filed on Tuesday for an initial public offering of its common units as it looks to join rivals Blackstone and KKR as listed private equity firms, but the filing comes amid deep uncertainty on global equity markets. The U.S. IPO market has struggled as concerns about Europe's debt crisis and a weak recovery in the United States have made markets volatile. A number of deals were withdrawn last month.

• Read more

(Reuters) - The dominant services sector picked up steam unexpectedly last month, snapping a three-month streak of slower growth, though the pace of hiring slowed slightly, underscoring broader job market concerns. But the surprise increase in the index from the Institute for Supply Management was cause for encouragement, analysts said, suggesting consumers were holding up better than some had thought in what appears to be stalling U.S. economy.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Investors who followed Warren Buffett's lead on Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) are back to where they started. Shares of the financial giant, which spiked as much as 26 percent after the billionaire investor agreed to invest $5 billion in the company, are now trading below their pre-announcement level.

• Read more

(Reuters) - The euro zone's debt crisis appeared at risk of spiraling out of control on Tuesday amid doubts about Italy and Greece's willingness to push through austerity demanded by their partners, and hardening opposition to further aid in paymaster Germany. Against a backdrop of nationwide strikes, the government of embattled Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi scrambled to secure parliamentary backing for a package of reforms that has hammered Rome's credibility in financial markets because of the chaotic way it has been handled.

• Read more

(Reuters) - The pursuit of austerity measures and deficit cuts is pushing the world economy toward disaster in a misguided attempt to please global financial markets, the annual report of the United Nations economic thinktank UNCTAD said on Tuesday. The report, entitled "Post-crisis policy challenges in the world economy," savaged U.S. and European economic policies and called for wage increases, stricter regulation of financial markets, including a return to a system of managed exchange rates, and a conscious break with market-led thinking.

• Read more