WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bank of America Corp. said Friday it is ready to settle federal and state investigations into sales of risky auction-rate securities, joining eight other big investment banks that have agreed to buy back a total of more than $50 billion of the securities.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, said it has been in negotiations for nearly a month with the Securities and Exchange Commission and authorities in New York and Massachusetts on a possible settlement to buy back the bond-like securities from investors.

"We are ready and willing to enter into an agreement that follows the same basic terms of previously announced settlements," Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton said in an e-mailed message. "We understood that we had reached such an agreement in principle nearly two weeks ago."

"We hope that all of the parties will work towards completing a settlement for the benefit of investors who have been affected by unprecedented market disruptions," Norton said.

The SEC, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and a number of other state regulators have been conducting a wide-ranging investigation into banks' marketing of auction-rate securities. The regulators have alleged that the banks misled customers into believing the auction-rate securities were safe, cash-like investments.

Tens of thousands of investors nationwide -- including institutional and individual investors, cities and towns, charities and small businesses -- were left holding damaged, illiquid securities when the $330 billion

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's unemployment rate bolted above the psychologically important 6 percent level last month for the first time in five years -- and it's likely to go even higher in the months ahead, possibly throwing the economy into a tailspin as Americans pick a new president.

A blizzard of pink slips propelled the jobless rate from 5.7 percent in July to 6.1 percent in August, the Labor Department reported Friday. Such a sharp increase is usually a strong recession warning, and it dashed investors' hopes for a late-year recovery.

Worried about the economy and their own business prospects, employers cut payrolls by 84,000 in August, marking the eighth straight month of losses.

So far this year, a staggering 605,000 jobs have vanished -- slightly less than the population of Alaska. The economy needs to generate more than 100,000 new jobs a month for employment to remain stable.

Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research, feared that the jobless rate would cause consumers and businesses to "move from a moderately concerned stage to outright fear" and reduce their spending even more.

A toxic trio of housing, credit and financial problems has badly shaken the economy, and the crisis shows no signs of letting up. It's the public's top worry, and many experts believe the situation will get worse before it gets better.

The unemployment increase means many companies will feel pressure to reduce their business