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WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) — The Senate on Thursday passed the most sweeping regulatory overhaul of the financial system since the New Deal.

The bill, which passed 59-39, imposes more oversight and stronger capital cushions for the largest banks and Wall Street firms, while aiming to stop bailouts, shine a light on complex financial products and strengthen consumer protection.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — People who are denied credit or a job because of their credit history may soon be able to get their credit score free of charge, thanks to an amendment passed by the Senate Monday evening.

The measure, part of the massive Wall Street reform bill being debated in the Senate, would expand an existing law that, in December 2003, gave consumers the right to one free credit report every year from each of the top three consumer reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

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President Barack Obama said Friday that regulatory authorities were probing one of the wildest trading days in Wall Street history that left investors, government officials and traders scratching around for a cause.

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BOSTON – A financial tremor in one corner of the globe can leave cracks in an investment portfolio. It’s a painful lesson just as many U.S. investors are regaining their confidence.

The stock market remained volatile on Wednesday. After falling 112 points earlier in the day, the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 60. It posted a two-day loss of 285 points.

The trigger is Greece, whose debt troubles threaten the pace of a global economic recovery. It’s a growing concern even though the country’s population is less than one-third of California’s.

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WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) — With SEC charges against Goldman Sachs in the background, Democrats plan to start debating the Wall Street reform bill in the Senate this week, even as Republicans continue to say they oppose the bill.

“Our bill ends too big to fail, bailouts end forever,” said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., in a Monday press conference held to drum up momentum for the bill. “Our bill holds Wall Street accountable, mandates real transparency, so that large banks can’t gamble our money in the shadows of the financial system.”

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Stocks ended mixed Monday, fighting back from big losses, as investors weighed Moody’s warning about the United States’ AAA rating and a proposed bank regulation bill ahead of Tuesday’s Federal Reserve meeting.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 17 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 index (SPX) ended just above unchanged, eking out a fresh 18-month high. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) slid 5 points, or 0.2% after ending Friday’s session at an 18-month high.

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WASHINGTON – An overwhelming majority of Americans wants Wall Street subjected to tougher regulation in the aftermath of the bank bailout and the bonus scandals that have rocked the U.S. financial sector, according to a Harris poll released on Thursday.

The findings suggest that 82 percent of Americans want the government to clamp down more strongly on Wall Street excesses, with a particular emphasis on bonus schemes that have rewarded employees at loss-making companies such as American International Group.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The government’s plan to tax Wall Street’s bonus bounty is shaping up to be nothing more than a pipe dream.

Hoping to ride the wave of populist outrage against financial firms like Goldman Sachs, lawmakers have been hard at work hatching legislative schemes aimed at reining in bonuses at firms that received billions of dollars in taxpayer aid.

Bonus, given again. Why so much to handle money? What did he and all the others do to desire that big of a bonus? A lot of Americans do a good job every day and we are lucky we get paid. I didn’t understand why they have to get so much for a bonus.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Goldman Sachs stunned many in the Wall Street community Friday by awarding chief executive Lloyd Blankfein $9 million as his year-end bonus, far less than many were anticipating, and none of it in cash.

Following weeks of speculation about what the top executive at Wall Street’s leading investment bank would take home as his discretionary pay for 2009, the company revealed in a securities filing it was paying Blankfein 58,381 shares of company restricted stock.

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NEW YORK (Fortune) — The odds aren’t on its side, but a bonus tax could happen in the United States too.

The United Kingdom this week slapped a 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses above about $40,000. The one-time tax will be paid by all banks with employees in the country. France pledged it would adopt the same policy, while Germany’s chancellor called the idea “charming.”

Still, the bonus tax seems like a long shot on this side of the Atlantic, where bankers wield immense power. But when Wall Street starts handing out giant year-end paychecks at a time of 10% unemployment, all the campaign donations in the world may not keep legislators facing tough re-election fights from turning on their banker chums.

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WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) — The House passed legislation Friday aimed at preventing the next big financial crisis, ushering in the most sweeping set of changes to the banking regulatory system since the New Deal.

The bill, which passed 223-202, imposes more oversight and stronger capital cushions for the largest banks and Wall Street firms. It forces them to pay a total of as much as $150 billion into an emergency fund that could be tapped when a troubled company needs to be taken over and broken up.

The legislation also calls for the regulation of some derivatives and creates a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to regulate products such as credit cards and mortgages.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Stocks were poised for a mixed start Thursday as investors awaited some reports on the labor market.

Dow Jones industrial average futures were lower, while Nasdaq-100 and S&P-500 futures were up slightly.

Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.

Stocks rose Wednesday as the falling dollar boosted commodity stocks, and a rise in wholesale inventories and an upgrade of 3M provided some optimism.