Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'Neal* saw his 2006 pay rise 30% to $48 million, making him the second-highest-paid Wall Street chief.

Lockheed Martin posted a 28% jump in profit, while Northrop recorded a 37% rise for the quarter. Both defense contractors issued upbeat outlooks for 2007.

For years, hedge-fund manager Wolfgang Flöttl enjoyed the kind of lifestyle available to the very best in his profession. He built an art collection that included works by Van Gogh, Picasso and Cézanne. [...] Mr. Flöttl, the son of Bawag's former chief executive, was one of the bank's highest-flying customers. Austrian prosecutors say they discovered that Mr. Flöttl's hedge-fund investments soured eight years ago, causing Bawag [one of Austria's largest banks] to lose more than $1 billion. But the bank hid those losses from auditors for seven years through a complex series of transactions involving Refco, the prosecutors say.