PARIS—French police were questioning a second trader Friday about whether he knew of trades that led to billions in losses at bank Societe Generale, according to a newspaper report.

Police said they could not comment, and officials at the prosecutors' office were not immediately available for comment.

The respected daily Le Monde reported that the trader was in custody for questioning about his relationship with Jerome Kerviel, a futures trader accused by Societe Generale of massive unauthorized bets on European markets that the bank said cost nearly 5 billion euros (more than $7 billion) to unwind.

Societe Generale has said it believes that Kerviel had no accomplices. Officials at the bank, one of France's biggest, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Preliminary charges have been filed against Kerviel and he remains under police protection, but has been released.

Exchange Mergers Hit Roadblocks

As the rare players who benefit from wild and crazy financial markets, the two biggest U.S. financial exchanges — the CME Group (CME) and NYSE Euronext (NYX) — reported strong earning on Feb. 5. But record trading volume and profits arrive amid signs that the exchanges' aggressive expansion plans may be running into trouble.

The worry, however, is that exchanges' attempts to expand rapidly — across the world and to include the trading of all sorts of assets, from equities to exchange-traded funds and derivatives — is meeting resistance.

Natural gas pipeline from Alaska proposed

HOUSTON — ConocoPhillips said Friday it plans to develop a multibillion-dollar pipeline that would transport natural gas from Alaska to the lower 48 states and Canada.

More than 20 Years in the Making

M2 (narrow) "money" supply fell $16.9bn to $7.441 TN (week of 1/14). Narrow "money" expanded $360bn y-o-y, or 5.1%. For the week, Currency declined $1.6bn and Demand & Checkable Deposits fell $14.4bn. Savings Deposits decreased $5.4bn, while Small Denominated Deposits added $0.8bn. Retail Money Fund assets increased $3.8bn.

Total Commercial Paper dipped $1.6bn to $1.847 TN. CP has declined $377bn over the past 24 weeks. Asset-backed CP gained $8.2bn (24-wk drop of $382bn) last week to $813bn. Over the past year, total CP has contracted $147bn, or 7.4%, with ABCP down $252bn (23.7%).

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Now the industry is ready to return, but this little Arizona town is not sure it wants it back.

Cigarette smoke hangs blue over the sun-soaked patio of My Friends Tavern in Superior, Ariz. It's been an unseasonably cool January day, but the lingering sun is warm enough to lure nicotine-craving drinkers outside. Now, a dozen people exchange friendly banter as loudspeakers blare out Loretta Lynn: "I'm proud to be a coal miner's daughter. ..." Miller Lite and Budweiser empties line up on the white plastic tables.

Superior lies at the heart of Arizona's copper country, source of 60 percent of the copper mined in the nation; its palo verde-covered mountains are scarred by a century's worth of mining endeavors. Superior wouldn't exist without the Magma Mine. The substantial high school on the edge of town, the brick buildings on Main Street, the very culture and character of the town were all built on mining.

Details Emerge in French Bank Fraud Case

Head of the Financial Section of the Paris court, Jean-Michel Aldebert, left, walks after he addressed reporters outside the Financial Police headquarters, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008 in Paris. The French trader accused of one of the biggest bank frauds ever surfaced Saturday in the custody of police, who were questioning him about bad bets that cost France's No. 2 bank billions of euros in a season of jittery markets. Financial police in Paris were questioning Jerome Kerviel in a probe into Societe Generale's allegation against the 31-year-old trader, judicial officials said. They were speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. (AP Photo/Michael Sawyer) (Michael Sawyer - AP) .

Pakistani opposition celebrates

The pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q garnering a much smaller share.

Sharif, who was overthrown in a coup staged by Musharraf in 1999, cited the lopsided results as a mandate for the president to leave the political scene.

"The people have said what they want," said Sharif, 58. He extended an offer to form a coalition with the apparent biggest vote-getter, Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.

But it was not clear whether the PPP, now led by Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, would demand that Musharraf step aside or seek an accommodation with him. The two opposition parties were to begin talks this week.

Zardari told journalists in Islamabad that, for the time being, his party does not want to ally itself with "any of those people who are part and parcel of the last government." But he did not definitively rule out coalition talks with Musharraf's party or others.

Recession fears drive FTSE 100's biggest-ever points fall

The benchmark FTSE 100 index suffered the biggest points fall in its history as a number of factors heightened fears of a US recession and sent doom and gloom reverberating through the City.