VENTURE CAPITAL POST

A majority of Wall Street's top bond firms see the Federal Reserve starting to raise interest rates by the second quarter of next year, showing slightly more aggressive expectations compared with a month ago, a Reuters survey showed on Friday.

U.S. job growth slowed down sharply in August and more Americans gave up the hunt for work, giving a cautious Federal Reserve more reasons to wait a bit longer before raising interest rates.

German lender Commerzbank AG (CBKG.DE) is nearing agreement with U.S. authorities over its dealings with Iran and other countries under U.S. sanctions, sources familiar with the matter said.

New orders for U.S. factory goods posted a record gain in July and auto sales last month accelerated to their highest level in 8-1/2 years, offering further bullish signals for the economy.

Some of the best-known technology investors are looking beyond their tried-and-true Internet plays to bet on healthcare data as the next growth market.

U.S. consumer prices barely rose in July as declining energy costs partially offset increases in food and rents, which could give the Federal Reserve ammunition to keep interest rates low for a while.

Wall Street banks have found a U.S. review of their junk-rated loans to have yielded similar results to last year, easing some concern among bankers about a crackdown on one of their most lucrative businesses.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, but the underlying trend pointed to a continuing strengthening of labor market conditions.

According to economists, the poor jobs report will most likely not prevent the Federal Reserve from proceeding with the trimming of its monthly bond purchases, Bloomberg reported.

As the US economy shows signs of improvement and the dollar continues to show signs of growing strength, emerging markets could experience a crises, the Financial Times reported.

The world economy should snap a three-year stretch of slowing growth in 2014, although the upturn over the next 12 months looks likely to be incremental rather than a leap forward.

The American Bankers Association, a group that represents mostly community banks, has filed a complaint challenging the final version of the Volcker Rule, Bloomberg reported.

The American bankers Association on Monday said it would mount a legal challenge to the "Volcker rule" unless U.S. banking regulators softened a provision of the rule that restricts bank ownership of certain investments.

The Federal Reserve said it will be trimming its monthly bond purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion in its first move to start tapering, Bloomberg reported.

Morgan Stanley has launched a formal effort to sell its controlling stake in U.S. oil terminal and transport business TransMontaigne, four sources said on Wednesday, following other Wall Street powerhouses in yielding to intense regulatory pressure to get out of commodity investments.