BANGALORE (Reuters) - Wachovia Corp (WB.N) ousted its chief executive, following growing legal troubles and loan losses tied to the purchase of a big mortgage lender just before the housing market imploded.

LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge has ruled that a shareholder lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Corp. executives and directors should go to trial, rejecting several arguments by the troubled mortgage lender to dismiss the case.

WASHINGTON -- Mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., which is under investigation for inflating certain borrowers' fees, acknowledged Tuesday that it has made errors and pledged to take steps to improve its operations.

The bank should walk away from the deal, an analyst says. BofA says the transaction will proceed. Countrywide Financial Corp. shares took a hit Monday after an analyst questioned the value and wisdom of Bank of America Corp.'s takeover of the Calabasas mortgage lender, but Bank of America insisted the deal would go through.

LOS ANGELES -- Shares of Countrywide Financial Corp. tumbled Monday after one Wall Street analyst said Bank of America Corp. should abandon its proposed takeover of the struggling mortgage lender and another suggested the deal would likely be renegotiated for a lower price.

LOS ANGELES - Credit-rating agency Standard & Poor's today cut Countrywide Financial's rating to junk status, citing new concerns that Bank of America may not take on all of the troubled mortgage lender's debt once its proposed takeover of Countrywide closes.

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. , the second- biggest U.S. bank, said it may not guarantee $38.1 billion of Countrywide Financial Corp. 's debt after taking over the mortgage lender, increasing the likelihood of a default.

Shares rise on a predicted return to profitability for the lender, though doubts remain. IndyMac Bancorp Chief Executive Michael Perry came out swinging Thursday against Wall Street's increasingly dim view of the mortgage lender's future, and that gave the stock a pop.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N), the largest U.S. mortgage lender, posted a surprisingly large $893.1 million first-quarter loss on Tuesday, taking more than $3 billion of charges for write-downs and bad loans as the housing slump deepens.

LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Britain's biggest mortgage lender begged for new funding on Tuesday and Germany's top bank suffered its first quarterly loss in years as the credit crunch sapped financial industry strength.