Business Highlights

WASHINGTON (AP) — House lawmakers on Thursday accused federal regulators of a gross misuse of power in orchestrating a "shotgun wedding" between Bank of America Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. that cost U.S. taxpayers $20 billion.

They also took aim at Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis, questioning whether he played dumb last fall as Merrill's financial losses mounted and threatened not to go through with the merger to squeeze money from the government.

In his testimony, Lewis said publicly for the first time that his job was threatened after he expressed second thoughts about the merger. Lewis said then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and federal regulators made clear that if the bank reneged on its promise they would force his ouster and that of board members at the bank.

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Better data, strong 30-year auction lift stocks

NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrial average tacked on a modest 32 points Thursday after being up as much as 139, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index edged up to reach its highest level since November.