STOCKS NEWS US-BofA was involved in Merrill writedowns: FT

Stocks on the move [HOT-RTRS] Real-Time Equity news [U E]

U.S. stock market report [.N]
0719 ET 20March2009-BofA was involved in Merrill writedowns: FT
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Bank of America (BAC.N) was involved in accounting for fourth-quarter
writedowns at Merrill Lynch before it bought the brokerage firm, the Financial
Times reported late Thursday.

Neil Cotty, Bank of America's chief accounting officer, was influential in
determining writedowns for complex debt instruments and leveraged loans, among
other assets at Merrill, according to the unnamed sources cited in the paper.
[ID:nN19463624]

Shares of the bank, a Dow component, fell 10 cents to $6.83 in premarket
trade.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
0711 ET 20March2009-TomTom launches lawsuit against Microsoft
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Dutch navigation device maker TomTom (TOM2.AS) on Friday said it had
launched a court case against Microsoft (MSFT.O), a few weeks after the U.S.
software company itself launched a patent lawsuit against TomTom.

A spokesman for TomTom confirmed the action but declined to say on what
grounds the case was lodged.

Analysts said the most likely outcome was that each company would agree to
use each other's patents in exchange for the lawsuits being dropped.
[ID:nLK139026]

Shares of Microsoft, a Dow component, closed Thursday at $17.14.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
0703 ET 20March2009-Economic indicators for March 20
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Economic indicators on tap for Friday include weekly ECRI data.

For details, see [ECI/US]

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
0700 ET 20March2009-Earnings diary for March 20
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Companies scheduled to report quarterly results on Friday include Axcess
International AXSI.OB and Kirkland's (KIRK.O).

For details, see [RESF/US]

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net