<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg BusinessWeek – Cuomo, New York Lawmakers Reach Deal to Close $10 Billion Gap New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and top lawmakers agreed on a budget that eliminates next year’s $10 billion deficit by sticking close to the governor’s proposals for spending cuts without new taxes, they said. The… Continue reading Municipal Financing
Bloomberg.com – Fed Should Consider Curtailing Stimulus Program, Bullard Says St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said policy makers should review whether to curtail a plan to buy $600 billion in Treasury securities, noting that the U.S. recovery may not need that much stimulus. “The economy is looking pretty good,” Bullard said to… Continue reading Bullard Wants To End QE2 Early
The Wall Street Journal – Mortgage Servicers Resist But Cut Debts U.S. banks are resisting efforts by state attorneys general to force them to cut the amounts owed by some borrowers facing foreclosure. Yet mortgage companies already have reduced home-loan balances for more than 100,000 borrowers. How much larger the number will grow is likely… Continue reading Mortgage Mods
The Wall Street Journal – Nasdaq, ICE Weigh a Price for NYSE Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. and IntercontinentalExchange Inc. have continued talks in recent days about a possible joint bid for NYSE Euronext, but the two companies still are working to overcome hurdles, according to people familiar with the matter. One of the biggest sticking… Continue reading Bidding For NYSE
The Financial Times – Bernanke braves the Fed-bashers Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, chose an interesting moment to announce, as he did last week, that the Fed will depart from tradition and start holding quarterly news conferences. The first is scheduled to follow the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on… Continue reading The Federal Reserve’s Quarterly Press Conferences
Bloomberg.com – Simon Johnson: Maestro Nurtures a New Too-Big-to Fail Crisis Just tell the government to back off and all will be fine. That’s what former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan seems to say in “Activism,” an article published in the Spring issue of International Finance available on the Council on Foreign Relations’ website. “Current… Continue reading Greenspan Rails Against Government Intervention
The Financial Times – A grand bargain that cannot end the crisis Did Europe’s leaders save the euro last week? There is good news, bad news and really bad news. The good news is that a new permanent crisis resolution mechanism has been put in place, starting in 2013. This European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will… Continue reading What Did Last Week’s EU Summit Accomplish?
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<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Portugal’s Woes Turn Spotlight on Spain Portugal’s admission that it will probably need a financial bailout raises a question that will shape the outcome of the euro zone’s debt crisis: Is Spain next? The cost of saving Spain, a €1.1 trillion ($1.56 trillion) economy,… Continue reading Portugal Falls, Is Spain Next?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Mutual Funds Extend Inflow Streak to 10th Week Bond funds posted an eighth consecutive week of inflows, after falling in late 2010 and early this year when the municipal-bond market was rocked as a federal-bond subsidy program expired at year end. For the week… Continue reading Muni Bond Funds See Another Outflow
<Click on chart for larger image> The Washington Post – Federal Reserve survey: Wealth declined for most households during recession The Great Recession shook households of every income, with a median 45 percent decline in wealth for the majority of consumers surveyed in a Federal Reserve study released Thursday. The survey followed families from 2007… Continue reading Household Net Worth
The Financial Times – US housing barometer points to danger A large overhang of foreclosed homes along with a credit squeeze is pushing the US housing market to new lows, just as government assistance is waning, in a worrying reminder of the fragility in the broader economic recovery. Sales of new homes fell to a… Continue reading Will Housing Cause Another Recession?