Business Highlights

Icahn offers CIT Group $6 billion loan

NEW YORK (AP) — In another sign that CIT Group Inc. is struggling to restructure its debt, billionaire investor Carl Icahn offered the lender a $6 billion lifeline.

In a letter Monday to CIT's board of directors, Icahn said he would give the company the loan to replace a debt restructuring plan CIT has asked bondholders to approve.

Icahn, who is a CIT bondholder, said in his letter the $6 billion loan would save the company $150 million in fees. He also criticized the board for pushing an exchange offer that he said unfairly favors large bondholders at the expense of smaller investors and that also undervalues the company.

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Bernanke urges US to cut budget deficit

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called Monday for the United States to whittle down its record-high budget deficits and for countries like China to get their consumers to spend more.