Outage delays flights...New contact for Rep. Weiner...Volcano effects

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — A power outage near one of US Airways' data centers in Phoenix has grounded or delayed numerous flights nationwide. Airline officials say the outage impacted its website and airport computer systems. A US Airways spokeswoman says some systems are coming back online this evening.

WILMINGTON, Del (AP) — Congressman Anthony Weiner has acknowledged he had online contact with a 17-year-old girl in Delaware. But he says the communications were "neither explicit nor indecent." The New York Democrat has been under fire after admitting to sending graphic photos to women online.

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least nine House members and three senators say Rep. Anthony Weiner should give up his seat in Congress after acknowledging sending sexually explicit messages over the Internet. But House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says the decision should be up to Weiner and his constituents.

RININAHUE, Chile (AP) — The effects of a volcano in Chile are wreaking havoc on parts of South America. Steaming rivers filled with hot ash, rocks, and rain are threatening to overflow their banks in southern Chile. And ash clouds are keeping some airports closed across much of the southern part of the continent.

CHATHAM, Mass. (AP) — Federal authorities want to know who has been fatally shooting gray seals on Cape Cod. According to fisheries police, six of the slain seals have been found on beaches over the last six weeks. Gray seals are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, and authorities say they're taking the case very seriously.

BofA Stock Hits 2-Year Low on Mortgage Concerns

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) hit a two-year low in New York trading on concern that a stalling U.S. job market will drive up costs from bad mortgages.

The biggest U.S. lender by assets declined 45 cents, or 4 percent, to $10.83 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 4:15 p.m. The bank hasn’t closed at a lower price since May 2009. The stock sold for more than $55 in 2006 before the financial crisis took hold.

Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan, 51, has assured investors that costs tied to defective mortgages and improper foreclosures can be absorbed without selling new stock to raise capital. His task may be harder after the U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.1 percent and employers added the fewest workers in eight months during May, meaning more unemployed people may fall behind on loans.

“We’ve been getting consistent signals that we continue to see growth, but those signals recently have had some choppiness to them in terms of new unemployment claims,” Moynihan said during a May 24 investor conference.

Bank of America has declined about 29 percent in the past year of New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the worst performance on the 24-company KBW Bank Index. The lender was the only U.S. bank among the largest four that had its capital plan rejected by the Federal Reserve this year.

Moynihan told investors last week that new claims tied to bad mortgages tend to track the jobless rate, and he was pursuing ways to put housing liabilities behind the firm. The bank disclosed in January a $3 billion deal to settle some loan disputes with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and agreed in April to pay $1.6 billion to resolve claims with bond insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd.

Resolving Fights

Moynihan, who said last year the bank was engaged in “hand-to-hand combat” to fend off the claims, told investors this month that “there’s a point when fighting doesn’t have any value.”

Bank of America, the biggest servicer of U.S. mortgages, is among firms negotiating with state attorneys general to settle allegations that the banks seized homes during foreclosures by using legal shortcuts and falsified documents. The largest servicers are discussing a framework that may let them choose from a menu of options for helping borrowers, two people briefed on the talks said in May.

Costs to repurchase bad mortgages and settle with state attorneys general may total about $18 billion, Keith Horowitz of Citigroup Inc. wrote in a June 1 research note.