American Express seeks $3.5 bln capital from U.S.: Journal (AXP) (by Robert Daniel)

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- American Express Co., (AXP) the New York financial-services provider, is seeking $3.5 billion of capital from the U.S. government, people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal. AmEx has been hurt as consumers -- even the company's most-affluent consumers -- have cut spending and as more cardholders have defaulted on their payments, the Journal reported. American Express on Monday was cleared by the Federal Reserve to become a bank-holding company. How the company would use the additional capital isn't yet known, the Journal reported.