Morning Wrap

Stock Down. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in congressional testimony today, is expected to back a growth package structured around business and consumer spending.

More Bloodletting. Merrill Lynch plummeted to a loss in the fourth quarter, ending a bloody second half with $11.5 billion in subprime-related write-downs.

Google Mania. The LAT reports that after some initial wrong turns, Google now appears to be finding its way in Washington after the company’s expanding lobbying operation scored two significant victories last year.

Costly Lie. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer sentenced former Brocade CEO Gregory Reye to 21 months in prison Wednesday. But the twist came when the judge indicated Reyes may have gotten an extra six months tacked onto his stock option backdating sentence for submitted a sworn affidavit to the court saying he did not backdate.

Busted. On Tuesday, the San Francisco office of the SEC brought charges against two employees of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for trading on inside information about pending deals.