TaxWatch: Home buyers in California can enjoy up to $18,000 in tax credits
There’s the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers. And now California has upped the ante, offering a tax credit worth up to $10,000 to any home buyer, first time or not, of any income level, who buys a home between March 1, 2009 and March 1, 2010.

NewsWatch: S&P 500 finishes at worst level since December 1996
As stocks tally another month of stiff losses, investors are especially focused on the S&P 500 Index, with the broad market gauge closing below its November lows — and also below the 740-to-750 range some had hoped for.

Global stocks rise; UK unveils new bank aid (Reuters)

Reuters – Fresh steps by the British government to shore up the ailing banking sector helped European stocks shrug off a negative lead from Asia on Thursday and took the shine off dollar gains versus major currencies.

Stocks to Watch: Stocks in focus for Monday
A MarketWatch rundown of companies whose shares are expected to see active trading in Monday’s session.

The Best Opportunity This Decade
The sky is falling! But isn’t that manna?

NewsWatch: Berkshire’s Buffett cops to mistakes, likes long-term horizon
Berkshire Hathaway suffered through the company’s worst year on record during 2008, Warren Buffett says. In his widely read letter to shareholders, the billionaire investor sees the U.S. economy in a “shambles” through 2009 but forecasts better days are ahead for the country.

Don’t Jump Off the Cliff
Cliffs Natural Resources is a one-stop shop for steelmakers.

SEC’s civil lawsuit still awaits Nacchio (AP)
AP – A court ruling Wednesday reinstating the insider-trading conviction of Joe Nacchio doesn’t end the former Qwest chief executive officer’s legal battles.

Bloomberg To Help Ex-Wall Street Execs Start New Firms
NYC’s mayor has introduced 11 initiatives to revive New York City’s capital markets and encourage entrepreneurship, including cheap office space and angel funds for start-ups.

Markets reel as US bank rescue plan offers little comfort (AFP)

AFP – Global stock markets were reeling on Tuesday, extending heavy losses as the latest US bank rescue plan offered little comfort the underlying problems driving the global downturn will be quickly resolved.

Nasdaq OMX Group profit falls on special charges (AP)
AP – Stock exchange operator Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. said Thursday its fourth-quarter profit plunged 53 percent primarily because of asset impairment charges and losses on foreign-currency contracts.

European equities rally despite record RBS bank loss (AFP)

AFP – European stocks rallied Thursday on bargain-hunting, with the focus on the financial sector as traders digested a record loss at Royal Bank of Scotland which was less than feared.

Wall Street pulled lower by healthcare sector
US stocks fell after a bright start was wiped out by the news that President Barack Obama intends to cut subsidies in the healthcare sector as part of his reform plan

U.S. Equities Market Structure Changes Dramatically
Technology, new pricing models, and Regulation NMS have forever changed the equities market structure, and electronic order books have become dominant, according to a new report from Celent.

Global stocks rise; UK unveils new bank aid (Reuters)

Reuters – Fresh steps by the British government to shore up the ailing banking sector helped European stocks shrug off a negative lead from Asia on Thursday and took the shine off dollar gains versus major currencies.

VMware, Intel Collaborating on Remote Virtual Desktop Management
Tools to let IT manage and fix virtual desktops and laptops remotely, even if they’re turned off or have crashed, should be available in the second quarter of this year.

Stock Funds Drew Inflow In January (Investor’s Business Daily)
Investor’s Business Daily – In a notable reversal, investors stuffed $9.05 billion into stock funds in January, despite the market falling. The S&P 500 lost 8.57%.

FBI Finds, Serves Papers to Stanford in Virginia
Texas billionaireAllen Stanford, accused of an $8 billion fraud that spooked investors around the world, was served with the formal complaint on Thursday by FBI agents in Virginia.

Icahn turns his attention to Lions Gate
The activist investor proved he had a soft spot for Hollywood when he used his stake in Time Warner to try and force through changes at the owner of Warner Brothers. Now he has turned his attention to Lions Gate Entertainment, the company behind this week’s big hit Madea Goes to Jail

Suramericana de Inversiones Posted a 9.4% Increase in Net Income for 2008

TROY Group, Inc. Posts Fiscal Year 2008 Results

Banks and economy to keep bears’ grip on stocks (Reuters)

Reuters – Wall Street is unlikely to get a reprieve next week as relentless worries about U.S. banks and the economy could embolden bears to drive the market below the 12-year lows hit on Friday.

Weak financials drag down FTSE 100 (AFP)

AFP – The leading share index slipped into the red on Tuesday amid fears for the world economy.

Global stocks rise; UK unveils new bank aid (Reuters)

Reuters – Fresh steps by the British government to shore up the ailing banking sector helped European stocks shrug off a negative lead from Asia on Thursday and took the shine off dollar gains versus major currencies.

European equities rally despite record RBS bank loss (AFP)

AFP – European stocks rallied Thursday on bargain-hunting, with the focus on the financial sector as traders digested a record loss at Royal Bank of Scotland which was less than feared.

Grupo Casa Saba Announces 4Q08 Earnings Results

Murdoch warns of change after Chernin’s exit
The departure of Peter Chernin prompted the media tycoon to fire of a memo to staff that hinted they should prepare for more of the “contrarian” investments that have long divided investors and for further cuts

Thomson Reuters Launches Point in Time Data Feed for Historical Analysis
Data feed lets fund managers, quants look back at the information investors had when they drove stock price changes.

Sycomore Asset Management Selects Panopticon to Monitor Risk
Sycomore Asset Management will use Panopticon’s Heatmaps, Treemaps and other information visualizations to monitor risk, performance and other parameters for its funds.

Calypso Acquires Galapagos Portfolio Platform
Portfolio construction and management platform to bolster Calypso’s front office analytics and risk management offerings.

Personal Finance Daily: The week’s 10 best Personal Finance stories: Feb. 23-27
In case you missed them, here are the top 10 Personal Finance stories from MarketWatch for the week of Feb. 23-27:

NewsWatch: Berkshire’s Buffett cops to mistakes, likes long-term horizon
Berkshire Hathaway suffered through the company’s worst year on record during 2008, Warren Buffett says. In his widely read letter to shareholders, the billionaire investor sees the U.S. economy in a “shambles” through 2009 but forecasts better days are ahead for the country.

ClariFI Announces Availability of Barra Optimizer on ModelStation
This eliminates the need to manually move data between the two products, giving portfolio managers greater flexibility to research, test, and implement new investment strategies, according to ClariFI.

Endace and Correlix Partner for Latency Monitoring
Joint solution said to provide end-to-end monitoring of complex multi-vendor trading infrastructures.

Short View: The glitter of stocks
History implies that stocks could fall much further, as they have been even cheaper compared to gold at the bottom of history’s worst bear markets, says John Authers

How Low Can Stocks Go?
Much lower. Here’s why.

American Express revises fourth quarter profit upward
NEW YORK (Reuters) – American Express Co revised upward its fourth quarter profit by almost 40 percent to $240 million, due to a hedge accounting error, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

AllianceBernstein Global High Income Fund, Inc. Reports Third Quarter Earnings

Tetragon Financial Group Limited (TFG) Release of Performance for Full Year 2008

Wikis and Wall Street: A Perfect Match?
The key to leveraging wikis on Wall Street is picking and choosing the business problems that wikis are well-suited to solve, and which skirt around the security and compliance issues that have hampered previous SaaS deployments.

Madoff Liquidator Subpoenas 13 Exchanges, Firms
The trustee liquidating the brokerage of accused fraudster Bernard Madoff has subpoenaed 13 exchanges and clearinghouses, including the Chicago Board of Trade, as he tries to recover money for victims of Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

SimCorp to Help Clients Mitigate Risk in a Response to Market Turmoil
Soluition enable clients to mitigate risk, reduce costs and enable growth

SEC Halts Fraud Targeting Deaf Investors
U.S. securities regulators halted a $4.4 million Ponzi scheme that targeted deaf investors in the United States and Japan, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday.

Fixnetix to Offer Low-Latency Data Feed to JSE
The low latency feed from Fixnetix will ensure access to market data from South Africa’s only full service securities exchange.

Buyout or Sellout?
Six companies with the urge to merge, but which deals will be the ones to work out?

Calyon Implements Calypso for Cash Management
Investment bank expands Calypso support across back-office suite.

This Week’s 5 Smartest Stock Moves
There’s always time to look at the bright side of life.   

A 1-in-100 Investor
CAPS players who score 100 points in 100 days have become some of the best investors around.

After Hours: Citigroup remains under pressure in evening trades
Citigroup Inc. shares drop in late trade, adding to steep monthly declines after the U.S. government agrees to take a greater stake in the embattled firm.

Fears for BofA and Citi rattle markets
Fears that Citigroup and Bank of America would be nationalised shook global markets, sending shares in the financial sector tumbling

Five reasons buying a house now is a wise move
People are afraid to buy a home in times like these, with the economy tanking and home prices continuing to fall. But if you’re brave enough to stray from the herd, you might be in for the home-buying opportunity of a lifetime.