Chrysler president and vice chairman, Tom LaSorda, is leaving the carmaker immediately, it has been announced.

Wall Street staged a big advance in the penultimate session of 2008 today after Washington’s latest lifeline to the car industry bolstered hopes that the US government will do whatever is necessary to cut short the recession.

Wall Street put together a moderate advance in light trading today after the finance arm of General Motors won a government lifeline, but dreary Christmas spending figures dashed the chance of a big year-end rally.

A US judge has thrown a lifeline to investors who may have been duped in one of Wall Street’s biggest alleged frauds.

The list of investors who say they were duped in one of Wall Street's biggest pyramid schemes is growing, snaring some of the world's biggest banking institutions and hedge funds, the super rich and the famous, pensioners and charities.