As bonus season nears, nearly half of Wall Street employees expect high bonuses this year, according to an eFinancialServices.com survey cited by Bloomberg.

Since the Center for Responsive Politics started tracking campaign donations in 1989, Goldman Sachs has give more money to Democratic politicians than has any other corporation, according to The Journal. This year, the firm has reversed its 2008 support for President Barack Obama, and is raising money for Mitt Romney.

When les riches said they'd pay higher taxes for the good of France, they didn't mean this high, writes Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Three years ago, 80 percent of Spain's foreclosures were on immigrant homeowners. Today, businesspeople, upper-middle class families and guarantors (often the parents of first-time buyers) make up 60 percent of foreclosures.

Barclays said it would buy the Buy the mortgages and deposits of ING Direct U.K., the British unit of the Dutch lender.

Private equity firms including Sun Capital Partners and Cerberus Capital agreed to pay $166 million to settle a suit over the leveraged buy-out of now-defunct retailer Mervyn's, The New York Post reports.

Goldman Sachs will pay $6.75 million to settle charges it mislabeled options orders to get better rates from various exchanges.

Richard J. Davis, a former Weil Gotschal partner, has been names the bankruptcy trustee for Fletcher International, according to The New York Post. The hedge fund, run by Alphonse "Buddy" Fletcher, is locked in a dispute with three Louisiana public pension funds.

Phil Anschutz is seeking $10 billion for Anschutz Entertainment Group, his sports and entertainment empire, according to Reuters.

The Swiss bank Julius Baer may cut 1,000 jobs after its acquisition of Merrill Lynch's non-U.S. wealth management units from Bank of America, according to Bloomberg.

Well, France's new tax law is no longer just an unappealing prospect (e.g. the lawsuit to end foie gras production in New York state), but a cold reality (the recent ban in California), as Socialist President Françoise Hollande announced a new budget today, placing a 75 percent on million-euro earners. The Wall Street Journal has some details:

The budget increased the top marginal income-tax rate to 45% from 41%, and detailed plans for a special tax on incomes above €1 million ($1.29 million) a year, with 1,500 individuals paying an overall rate of 75%. They will pay on average €140,000 more in taxes next year, the government said.

In light of which, we'd like to roll out the welcome mat again, with the same set of stipulations.

LightSquared, the wireless broadband company backed by Harbinger Capital founder Phil Falcone, is battling with creditors over control of the firm's bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg. LightSquared has asked a judge to extend a deadline to file a Chapter 11 plan; the creditors say, "Having nothing to lose, Mr. Falcone wants to pursue a high-risk, high-return strategy."

Facebook shares may get a bump when the stock is added to the Nasdaq 100, an index of the exchange's non-financial firms. It may not be enough to make up for Nasdaq's botched handling of the Facebook IPO, but every little bit helps...

Commodities giant Glencore upped its offer for Xstrata, the mining company, in hopes of completing a long-anticipated merger. It remains to be seen whether Qatar Holding, the sovereign wealth fund of the Middle Eastern nation, which holds a 12 percent stake in Xstrata, sign off on the new deal. Qatar's hesitance lead Business Insider to wonder if we are seeing the rise of a new kind of activist investor.

The head of the JPMorgan's chief investment office hopes his new gig is a "boring job.

After Dewey & Laboeuf folded, the law firm's softball team lived on.

A predecessor to SunTrust Banks invested in Coca-Cola in 1919, according to Bloomberg. What was worth $100,000 then is worth more than $2 billion now, and the firm is cashing most of the shares to cover bad loans and other costs associated with the financial crisis.

On Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Wall Street's courtship of fixed-income investors (now with conference calls!).

Sub-par returns from brand-name private equity firms are dragging on public-employee pension funds.

French President Francoise Hollande is said to be backing down on a proposed 75 percent tax on million-euro wage earners. A revised plan would reportedly lower the top tax rate to 67 percent, and raise the threshold for couples to 2 million euros.