Finance

The mother of the mother of all bailouts is quickly turning into not just one of the largest financial events in history, but a heated political argument as well. As we head into a vote on Capitol Hill this week, many, many questions still remain unanswered about how this plan is structured and whether it should be implemented at all.

Paychex (Nasdaq: PAYX) reports fiscal 2009 first-quarter earnings Wednesday afternoon. Want to know what Wall Street expects to see? Read on. Want to know what really matters? Read on a bit more.

Tokyo-- Japan's central bank Wednesday pumped 2 trillion yen to ease global financial market disruptions caused largely by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

If there's a financial services crunch, you wouldn't know it by watching Bankrate (Nasdaq: RATE). The financial rates publisher already set itself apart last month, when it posted a head-turning 72% increase in second quarter revenue. Now it's bucking the trend of bankers selling assets by buying assets.

A million dollars seems like a lot of money because, well, it is a lot of money. Thing is, racking up that sum isn't nearly as difficult as most folks imagine. Indeed, after putting just a few sound financial principles into action, you can basically sleepwalk your way to financial independence. Here's a two-step plan (pun intended) for doing just that.

"You may be the most powerful guy in Washington right now."

Whoa. That's what one senator told hedge fund manager Michael Masters in June, regarding Masters' influence in convincing Congress that oil's run-up was due to nothing more than greedy speculators.

You can't tell by the share price -- it's down nearly 20% so far in 2008 -- but Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is weathering the financial crisis quite well. You can get a clear indication of Wells' comparatively strong stance by looking at the share movements of archrivals such as Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), which have fallen more than twice as much as Wells has this year, as a result of much higher levels of subprime exposure and riskier lending practices that are coming home to roost.

You know those great companies you didn't invest in last year, because they were overvalued? Well, the past year's market sell-off may have brought their shares back into value territory.

New Delhi -- Indian exporters may soon lose a government interest subsidy to offset the rupee's appreciation as the currency is in a decline.

Lest you focus solely on the more serious stories in the financial press -- how Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is striking back at Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), or how Target 's (NYSE: TGT) credit card revenue is flagging -- here's a brief recap of some of the more unusual financial news out there:

The recent blow on the Japanese Business firms’ confidence has pulled down the business conditions in the country into desperate territory, informed analysts today. The four-year low that the market managed to hit during the April-June session was caused primarily by commodity-driven inflation and a vague global growth stance, they opined.

Moscow -- Russia's relationship with global financial institutions is flipping around from recipient of aid to donor, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said.

By Dayana Yochim:

None of your business! C'mon, did you really think I'd expose my financial privates to the world?

If it's financial exhibitionism you're after, check out Todd Davis (457-55-5462), the CEO of LifeLock. For two years, he's plastered his Social Security number in newspapers, on TV and radio, and on billboards, semis, and anywhere else ad space is sold. (Seriously, it's 457-55-5462.)

The folks at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) have prepared a quiz for Americans to help us determine whether we're in financial hot water. Below are a few of the conditions they listed -- see how many apply to you: