Local home building declines 14 percent

Recession fears seem to be dragging down Pittsburgh's housing market, according to Tall Timber Group, a Ross-based construction market research firm. New home construction in the region fell 14.3 percent during the first nine months of 2008, said Jeff Burd, president of Tall Timber. From January to September, single-family detached homes were down 12.6 percent from the same period last year. Single-family attached and multifamily units were down 16.8 percent. In national housing news, pending home sales rose 7.4 percent from July to August. The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending sales for existing homes rose to 93.4 from an upwardly revised July reading of 87.

Citigroup, Wells Fargo extend legal stalemate

Citigroup and Wells Fargo have agreed to extend their legal standstill in the fight for Wachovia until tomorrow morning. After the battle for Wachovia moved to both state and federal court, the parties had agreed to a cease-fire at the urging of Federal Reserve officials. But that agreement expired at noon yesterday without a resolution on the fate of Wachovia. Citigroup Inc. agreed on Sept. 29 to buy Wachovia's banking operations for $2.1 billion in a deal brokered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Four days later, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. stunned Citigroup by announcing that Wachovia's board had agreed to a $15.1 billion deal to acquire Wachovia in a deal that did not require government assistance.

New president, CEO to lead Bayer foundation

Greg Babe has been named chairman of the Bayer USA Foundation in addition to his new role as president and CEO of Bayer Corp. The Bayer USA Foundation is one of three global foundations in Bayer's portfolio. Since 2004, Mr. Babe has served as a member of the board of the Bayer USA Foundation. As chairman, Mr. Babe will oversee the activities of Bayer Corp.'s philanthropic arm, which in 2007 awarded nearly $5 million in grants to nonprofit organizations throughout the country.

Bank of America to buy $4.7 billion in securities

Federal regulators say Bank of America Corp. has agreed to buy back as much as $4.7 billion in auction-rate securities to settle charges that it misled thousands of customers about the risky investments. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the preliminary settlement with the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank. Bank of America joins eight other big investment banks that have agreed to buy back a total of more than $50 billion of the securities.

Also in business ...

Former U.S. Steel executive John J. Connelly has joined the board of Glassport-based Tube City IMS. ... About 40 of the region's Shop 'n Save grocery stores are launching a gift card program to allow customers to earn gas discounts for buying cards to use at other retail stores. For a limited time, shoppers will be offered double incentives for buying gift cards. Rival grocer Giant Eagle has a similar program.