Bank of America Corp. (BAC) will likely boost its stake in state-owned banking giant China Construction Bank Corp., paying about 36 cents a share (2.46 yuan), or 1.2 times the Beijing-based lender’s book value, China’s Caijing magazine reported last Friday, citing unidentified sources.

Something smells a little fishy to me…The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (aka the “FDIC”) just launched a series of full-page advertisements in U.S. newspapers. On the surface, these ads are celebrating the FDIC’s 75th anniversary.

With programs related to energy and climate change, health and human services, defense and homeland security, and environment and infrastructure, this consulting firm does it all – and does it very, very well.

They’ve already taken a hit on subprime, now major US banks, including troubled Wachovia, could be facing a similar crunch in the construction-lending market.

Part of Wachovia’s problem — apart from its residential-mortgage woes — is the $23.9 billion in outstanding debt it holds in relation to commercial-property projects at the end of the first quarter, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“Teaser rates of just 1% interest, left almost one-in-ten subprime borrowers unable to meet their monthly mortgage bills,” says Adrian Ash in The Daily Reckoning UK.

Dan Amoss thinks he’s found the next culprit. And this isn’t just a gut feeling, there’s real evidence here. Is the worst behind us? Dan doesn’t thinks so.

Bank of America Boosts China Bank Stake; Home Prices Continue to Fall; Record Profit and Resignation for Vodafone; Standard Pacific Stock Shoots Up; Landis&Gyr Lands 7 Million “Smart Meter” Contract; S. Africa Grows a Slow 2.1% in 1Q; Gold Futures Fall $18.

U.S. Service Sector Shows Signs of Life; Morgan Stanley to Slash More Jobs; Random House to Turn the Page on Chief Executive; Countrywide Rated “Underperform”, Shares Dive; Sprint Nextel Corp. Considering Spinning Off Nextel; Warren Buffett’s Warning; Principal Financial Slumps; Wal-Mart Widens Drug Plan Scope

In the currency market, the dollar continued to move higher against the euro. Late Friday, the euro was trading at $1.5424 vs. $1.5457 on Thursday.

Sohu Soars on 156% Jump in Revenue; Price of Crude Can’t be Contained; Kerkorian Riding Shotgun at Ford; Verizon Gets a Boost From Wireless Business; Visa Profit Up 28%; BoA to Modify $40 Billion in Loans; Corn Continues to Grow in Price; Questar’s Piping Hot Earnings Report.

The Cartel showed up on Globex trading shortly after London opened for business. Someone was offering physical in size and they were successful in driving down the gold price below $900 briefly before it recovered somewhat to slightly over $900. Silver had the same chart pattern.