Three companies — NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX), CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) and IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE:ICE) — have submitted bids for the London Metal Exchange, according to sources. The commodities business is being valued at up to £1B. Bidding closed on Wednesday with at least seven companies participating in the first round, with the LME due to consider its offers on Feb. 23.

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Logical buyers for the various pieces of Ally Financial, should it decide to sell all or part of its auto lending and banking businesses, include JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Toronto-Dominion (NYSE:TD), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and GM (NYSE:GM). Although it’s looking more and more remote, an IPO is still a possibility.

BofA (NYSE:BAC) submitted its emergency-planning list to the Fed last year, and more details are emerging. BofA would consider the sale of its retail-branch network in Texas and its U.S. Trust wealth-management unit, should a market shock or severe downturn that requires the raising of capital occur. However, executives might also decide to issue common stock before letting go of key parts of the business.

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Months of internal discussions at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) have culminated in a decision to change the accounting that affects a portion of corporate loans with a combined value of over $100B, this according to sources and financial filings. The firms have reduced their use of “mark to market” to shield themselves from swings in the values of some loans.

Following the regional bank Zion Bancorp’s (NASDAQ:ZION) investor day, its shares surge. During that day it was announced to investors that it has enough capital and liquidity to repay its TARP obligations.

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To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Lawson at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com

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