Last Updated: January 16th, 2009: 4:30 PM ET---The major US equity indices closed higher in a roller-coaster like session as two of the largest U.S. banks struggle to stay afloat. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) posted a fourth-quarter loss of $1.79 billion and slashed their dividend to a penny after receiving another $20 billion from the U.S. government. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) said the funds were desperately needed to help absorb Merrill Lynch, which lost a record $15.3 billion in the quarter. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) finished the day down 14% to $7.18 a share. Citigroup (NYSE:C) also reported a large fourth-quarter loss of $8.29 billion and said they plan to reorganize the company into two separate units. Citicorp will focus on traditional banking while Citi Holdings will handle the company's riskier assets. Shares of Citigroup closed lower by 8.6% to $3.50. Electronics retailer, Circuit City said they would begin liquidating its assets after it failed to reach a deal with creditors and lenders regarding the sale of the company. Circuit City will be forced to close its remaining 567 U.S stores and cut 30,000 jobs. Drug giant Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), reported plans to cut nearly a third of its 8,000 sales jobs in order to restructure and streamline their operations. Over the last two years Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) has cut more than 14,000 jobs in order to lower costs prior to the extinction of its Lipitor patent, which will soon have generic competition. Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD), WellPoint (NYSE:WLP), Hertz Global (NYSE:HTZ) and GE Capital (NYSE:GE) also announced plans to slash their workforce in an effort to cut costs and cope with the recession. The Labor Department said this morning that consumer prices fell 0.7% in December as gasoline prices plunged by record amounts. For 2008, inflation rose at its slowest rate in more than 50 years. The Treasury Department announced today that they will provide a $1.5 billion loan to Chrysler's financing arm in hopes of boosting new vehicle sales. Accordingly Chrysler announced they will now be offering zero-percent financing on eleven new models. The new aid will be an addition to the $17.4 billion in loans already earmarked for Chrysler and General Motors (NYSE:GM) last month. On the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 69 points to 8,281, the S&P 500 closed up 6 points to 850 and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed up 17 points to 1,529.

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