BofA, Goldman: Monday's Headlines

(

Updated with Dell acquisition of Perot, Lennar earnings

)

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Here are the top stock market headlines for the morning of Monday, September 21, 2009.

Monday's Early Headlines

• BofA to Name DuPont Chairman to Board. - The Wall Street Journal reports that Bank of America (BAC) - Get Report will name Charles Holliday, the chairman of DuPont (DD) - Get Report, to its board of directors. Holliday would be the bank's sixth new director since June. BofA's directors also will be briefed on options if CEO Kenneth Lewis is charged with civil fraud.
• BofA Has Noon Deadline to Hand Over Merrill Info. - The New York Times reports that House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Rep. Edolphus Towns (D., N.Y.) has told BofA that it cannot use attorney-client privilege when dealing with Congress and that the bank must divulge when it became aware of the enormous losses at Merrill Lynch last year. In a letter Friday, Towns gave BofA until noon Monday to provide answers and relevant legal documents, adding that it seemed that the bank was "hiding information," the Times report said.
• Dodd to Propose Super Bank Regulator. - Bloomberg reports that Rep. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.) will suggest combining the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency into one agency to regulate banks.
• Goldman Sachs to Invest $250 Million in Chinese Automaker. - Reuters reports that a Goldman Sachs (GS) - Get Report investment arm is in discussions with Geely Automobile, China's biggest privately-owned car maker, to buy about $250 million of the company's convertible bonds and warrants. Geely Automotive is the Hong Kong-listed arm of Chinese automaker Geely Holding, which is eyeing Ford's (F) - Get Report Swedish car brand Volvo.
• IRS to Extend Amnesty Deadline for Offshore Accountholders. - Bloomberg reports that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service will extend a deadline for Americans with undeclared offshore accounts with UBS (UBS) - Get Report and other banks to avoid criminal prosecution and fines if they disclose their holdings, citing a government official familiar with the program. The deadline will be moved from Sept. 23 to Oct. 15, the report said.
• FCC to Propose Net Neutrality. - The head of the Federal Communications Commission plans to propose new rules that would prohibit Internet service providers from interfering with the free flow of information and certain applications over their networks, an official at the agency told The Associated Press Saturday. The proposals would uphold a pledge President Obama made during his presidential campaign to support Internet neutrality, which is the equal treatment of Internet traffic. That would bar Internet service providers such as Verizon (VZ) - Get Report, Comcast (CMCSA) - Get Report or AT&T (T) - Get Report from slowing or blocking certain services or content flowing through their vast networks, the report said.
• Dell Acquires Perot Systems for $3.9 Billion. - Dell (DELL) - Get Report said Monday it reached an agreement to acquire Perot Systems (PER) - Get Report for about $3.9 billion, or $30 a share. The deal represents premium of about 68% to Perot's closing price Friday of $17.91.

Monday's Earnings Roundup

• Lennar (LEN) - Get Report posted a third-quarter net loss of $171.6 million, or 97 cents a share. Writedowns and charges in the quarter totaled of 76 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting a loss of 46 cents a share, which excludes one-time items. Revenue tumbled 35% from a year ago to $720.7 million. The consensus was for $774.4 million in sales.