Goldman's move shows how banking has become so international that companies can sidestep the SEC's rules with ease. It also shows that the commission's rules regarding stock sales are crippling for U.S. investors.

Facebook will raise just as much capital, $1.5 billion, as was planned originally. The terms of the deal are also the same: Investors will still put up a minimum of $2 million and commit to hold the shares until 2013.

The deal won't hurt Goldman either—it will earn at least as much in fees and commissions as before. The reality is that investment banks like Goldman have been moving brokerage and banking business offshore for decades. They are well positioned in Asian and European capitals to continue to do so.

Schwab reported its net income fell to $119 million, or 10 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, down from $164 million, or 14 cents per share, a year ago.

Without the settlement charges disclosed last week, the San Francisco–based company said its profit rose 33 percent, to $218 million.

Revenue rose 14 percent to $1.13 billion from $986 million a year ago.

Total client assets rose 11 percent to $1.57 trillion. Schwab ended the year with nearly 8 million clients, up 4 percent from a year ago.

However, Schwab's pre–tax profit margin slipped to 20.3 percent from 27 percent in the year–ago quarter.

Excluding the charges, Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger said the company's pre–tax profit margin rose 9 percentage points compared with this year's first quarter. He attributed the improvement to revenue growth and cost controls.

The company reported a 12 percent increase in asset management and administration fees to $497 million in the latest quarter, compared with the same quarter a year ago. The gain was partly due to higher interest revenue.

Shares of MGIC Investment Corp. tumbled more than 20 percent Wednesday after the private-mortgage insurer posted a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss and said it can't predict when it will become profitable again.

The Milwaukee-based company reported a narrower fourth-quarter loss than it did a year earlier: $186.7 million, or 93 cents per share, compared with $280.1 million, or $2.25 per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Still, the latest quarter's loss was wider than the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by FactSet, who expected a loss of 57 cents, on average.

Shares of MGIC dropped $2.39 to close at $9.26. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $5.78 to $13.80.

For the full year, MGIC reported a loss of $363.7 million, or $2.06 per share, compared with a loss of $1.32 billion, or $10.65 per share, in 2009.

The earnings news release included a warning that the company doesn't see a return to profitability anytime soon: "We have reported net losses for the last four years, expect to continue to report annual net losses, and cannot assure you when we will return to profitability," the company said.

Schlumberger's fourth-quarter net income jumped 31 percent, the company reported Friday, as demand for oilfield services surged around the world along with the price of energy.

Oil prices have moved consistently higher since last summer. A barrel of oil now costs more than $90.

The energy industry, after slumping during the recession, is aggressively bumping up production to meet demand and major oil producers need companies Schlumberger to manage drill sites across the globe.

The company's shares have been climbing since last summer as well, and before the market opened Friday, the stock rose nearly 2 percent to $86.80.

Schlumberger has had to grow with major producers and last year spent $11 billion to acquire Smith International Inc.

It was the time that Smith's operations were reflected over an entire quarter and during the past three months, the company contributed revenue of $2.49 billion and pretax operating income of $275 million.

Schlumberger Ltd., based in Houston, earned $1.04 billion, or 76 cents per share, for the final three months of the year. That compares with $795 million, or 65 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue increased 58 percent at $9.07 billion.

Analysts had expected a bigger profit, and Delta shares fell 58 cents, or 4.6 percent, to $12.17 in morning trading. Shares of other airlines were lower as well.

Delta earned 2 cents per share for the fourth quarter. Not counting special items it would have earned 19 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected 27 cents per share. A year earlier it lost $25 million, or 3 cents per share. Delta said many analysts didn't include the impact of the late-December storms.

Earlier this month, Delta said the snow storms would cut its fourth-quarter profit by $45 million after it canceled some 4,000 flights.

Revenue rose 14 percent to $7.79 billion, more than analysts expected.

During 2010, airlines including Delta, benefited as passengers -- especially business travelers -- returned to flying as the economy improved. Delta's revenue for each passenger flown one mile rose 8 percent during the fourth quarter. Delta's operating costs for each seat flown one mile rose by 2 percent. They would have fallen 2 percent if not for fuel and special items. Its fuel bill alone rose 13 percent to $1.93 billion for the quarter.