ALSO...

* U.S. bank regulators cleared Citigroup Inc.’s planned purchase of finance company Associates First Capital Corp. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. both signed off on the deal, which will marry the No. 1 U.S. financial services conglomerate with the nation’s largest publicly traded finance company. The merger, valued at $31 billion when it was announced in September, drew fierce opposition from community and consumer groups, who were critical of Associates’ lending practices. But the two agencies said they were satisfied that the companies had met the required statutory criteria for approval.