business - "credit"

Financial issues have a reputation for being dry. Maybe that's because only the very best writers know how to show investment novices how exciting this topic can be.But it's hard to write well about dollars and cents. As someone who writes about investing and the stock market for a living, I have to admit: The quality of the writing on financial issues doesn't always live up to the vibrant and crucial subject matter.I'm doubly impressed by people who write well about investing without actually being full-time writers. Bill Gross, for example, the bond king at PIMCO, almost always makes me laugh (and think) with his monthly 'Investment Outlook' columns. A new one was released this week, and I recommend it if you have some extra time this weekend. My favorite Gross column was July 2007, when he both predicted the credit crisis and riffed on Paris Hilton's recent stay in jail.Another great investor-turned-writer is Warren Buffett, who has a prose style all his own. If you haven't re

Big merger-and-acquisition deals are often announced on Mondays because the closed markets on Saturday and Sunday provide a quiet period to wrap up complex deals. The U.S. stock market is closed on Monday for Memorial Day, and that gives wall street investment bankers and corporate lawyers an extra day to put together some big M&A deals.After today's reports of preparations for a $46 billion bid for Anheuser-Busch (BUD), I'm interested see how many M&A deals emerge on Tuesday. Thanks to the credit crunch and the U.S. economic slowdown, the M&A has slowed markedly. But there's speculation corporations -- if not private equity firms -- might be again hunting for acquisition targets.Will we see more cross-border deals, in which foreign companies take advantage of the weak dollar to gobble up U.S. firms at a discount? So far, foreign buyers seem wary of the U.S.'s uncertain economic outlook.For comparison's sake, I went back in time to look at the headlines on the Tuesday after M

AP - Lewis Ranieri is credited with inventing mortgage-backed securities two decades ago, and recently he sounded warnings about mortgage risks. Yet he couldn't save his own company from getting tangled in the real-estate loan bust.

Fool editor Ed Bowsher tells us why he's just applied for a Halifax All in One Mastercard.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed the omnibus budget bill and five other bills Thursday, including measures for property, income and sales taxes; credit card use for city payments; and a one-time payment to retired state employees.

The global technology industry is expected to consolidate further as companies seek niche technologies and greater economies of scale, even as troubled credit markets make it tougher to raise money for deals.

With the UK facing an economic slowdown, James Hall travels to five cities in five days to assess the impact of the credit crisis on different regions and a range of industries.

Online and telephone payments are set to get faster next week as the banking system undergoes its biggest change since credits and debits first migrated into cyberspace.

Emerging-markets bonds have withstood the credit crisis with less pain than in recent global financial crises, encouraging hopes that these investments have shed their status as particularly vulnerable to asset flight.

A charity has made a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading about debt-ridden twenty and thirty-somethings being targeted by internet ads from loan companies lending money at APRs of up to 1,355%. credit Action has complained about adverts displayed on social networking website Facebook for 'payday loans' which are basically cash advances on the salary borrowers are expecting at the end of the month.