Since socialism is always more palatable when it bails out rich people, Henry Paulson’s $700 billion financial rescue package arrives in Congress today after round-the-clock negotiations over the weekend and exhortations from presidential candidates. But even as Congress prepared to vote, across the ocean the financial crisis rattled several European institutions.

The governments of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg moved to partially nationalize Fortis with an injection of over $16 billion. Also German lender Hypo Real Estate secured a credit line from the German government and banks up to 35 billion euros. And Britain nationalized mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley. Meanwhile shares in French bank Dexia fell on reports that it may need emergency capital. Rescue deals also emerged in Iceland, Russia and Denmark.

Citigroup will buy Wachovia Corp’s banking business, further consolidating power among three megabanks: Citigroup, JPMorgan and Bank of America.

The stock market was poised to open lower, on fears that the bailout plan would not be enough to rescue the economy. Treasuries and the dollar were up, but pared their gains after the Citigroup announcement.

- Derek Caney

Like a leaky boat, Wall Street just keeps sinking amid controversy over the proposed government bailout. And Fed chief Ben Bernanke has poured more cold water on the investing mood by saying global markets remain under extraordinary stress.

Stock futures are pointing lower as Congress has shown some reluctance to rubber-stamp the $700 billion bank rescue plan, which some say could create more problems because of the ballooning deficit while not resolving the credit crisis.

But while not everyone loves this bailout, it appears to be all we’ve got.

The good news is that oil prices, whose huge gains also wigged out the stock market yesterday, have also fallen.

U.S. Treasuries are mostly higher, while the dollar is steady against an index of major currencies.

Home builder Lennar reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss, although revenue plunged 53 percent.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts - a private equity firm that is planning on going public - posted a net loss for the first half of 2008, compared with a year-earlier profit.

– Lisa Von Ahn

The combination of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch looks to create a powerhouse in the all-important investment banking league tables, topping current front-runner JP Morgan with, for example, 141 deals to JP Morgan's 125, in global equity underwriting.

Together, they make the top underwriter for global debt, equity and equity-related transactions since the start of this year.

--Data from Matthew Toole, Thomson Reuters.

The federal government should ditch the hybrid structure of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and fully back them with taxpayer funds, said New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, former CEO of Goldman Sachs.

“I don’t think we can continue with the schizophrenic view that we have today, sort of part public company, part private company, where the leaders of the company do well when things are going well but then the government and the public and the taxpayer has to bail them out when it goes bad,” he said.

This report is by Corbett B. Daly, Washington bureau chief for Thomson Reuters Markets.

2008 is shaping up to be a challenging year for hedge funds and private equity but there are opportunities if you know where to look.

From London to Tokyo to New York the turbulence in the stock market is driving hedge funds and private equity firms to look beyond equities.

Despite opportunities in other investments, hedge funds are still folding at a fairly rapid clip.

Funds which oversaw nearly $4 billion dollars in assets have already closed their doors in the first quarter of 2008.

Ruben Ramirez reports.

Toll Brothers Chief Executive Robert Toll is seeing a link between Chinese people wearing Gucci sunglasses and a business opportunity. And that’s one reason he is about to send a team to scout out possible homebuilding joint ventures in China’s first and second-tier cities, Toll said at the Reuters Global Real Estate summit.

China’s a solid prospect for Toll because its expanding and aspiring middle class has already encountered the company, which bills itself as “America’s luxury homebuilder,” on the Internet, he said.

Click here to hear Toll on why he sees brand-happy Chinese as Toll Brothers buyers.

Boardroom politics may have been her nemesis at Hewlett-Packard, but that hasn’t stopped former HP Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina from appreciating the role boards play in bringing about change. That’s why she’s serving on a number of them, Fiorina said at the Wall Street Journal Deals and Deal Makers Conference on Wednesday.

Fiorina is using them to push causes close to her heart, including eliminating poverty and increasing the number of women in boardrooms, she said. “If you don’t get women involved, solutions don’t happen as fast,” she said. Although women have made some progress, she added, it’s still “clearly not a meritocracy.”

Some of these ideas have made their way into her memoir, Tough Choices, in which she also talks about steering HP through the tech slump and the merger with Compaq. Fiorina was fired from HP in 2005.

Fiorina said she often gets asked whether she will get into politics, but said she has no plans so far.

Her presidential candidate favorite? Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
McCain strikes her as the kind of person who knows “the only way to solve problems is to find common ground with people” who don’t necessarily share the same point of view.

- Reporting by Anupreeta Das