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NEWS ABOUT: financial sector

Obama Pitches Borrowing Tax on Top 50 Banks

Would raise $90B, discourage excessive risk, boost little guys

(Newser) - Barack Obama will propose a new tax on Wall Street’s biggest banks today, in an effort to recoup losses from the bailout, give smaller banks a boost against the behemoths, and curb the excessive risk-taking that caused the financial melt-down. The firms, 50 big-time banks, insurers and traders, would... More »

10 Lies Wall St. Told Us in '09

It's been a bumper year for BS from the big banks, writes Nomi Prins

(Newser) - As Wall Street happily trots off into 2009's sunset, same old bad habits in tow, things aren't looking so hot on Main Street—no matter the crocks the bankers sold us, writes Nomi Prins at AlterNet . Here's some of Wall Street's finest whoppers of the year.
  • The economy has improved.
... More »

Banks Probed for Betting Against Own Securities

Firms bundled bad debt then sold it short

(Newser) - Congress and financial regulators are probing several Wall Street firms for bundling bad debt, selling it to clients, and then profiting from betting that those same securities would fail, insiders say. Clients at Goldman Sachs and other firms lost billions of dollars on the mortgage-related securities as the housing market... More »

Pay Czar to Cap More Executive Salaries

Banks scramble to repay feds, free themselves from pay curbs

(Newser) - Treasury Department "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg plans to start capping the salaries of second-tier execs at firms that received government assistance, according to company and government officials. The $500,000 cap, already imposed on top exec salaries, may now be applied to hundreds of other employees. The move has... More »

Crooked Giants Dodge SEC Penalties

Agency routinely grants waivers for harshest punishments

(Newser) - Financial giants accused of swindling investors have been successfully dodging the SEC's harshest penalties by arguing that the law shouldn't apply to them. Firms including Citigroup, Bank of America, and AIG have recently sought and received waivers from regulations requiring lawbreakers to close their mutual fund businesses. Waivers have been... More »

Financials Push Dow Up 35

Dow up 6.5% for November

(Newser) - A rally in financial stocks helped the major indexes overcome a slump in retail shares, pushing stocks to solid gains today and capping a 6.5% rise by the Dow in November, the Wall Street Journal reports. For the day:
  • The Dow rose 34.92 points to close at 10,
... More »

Financial Reform: How to Prevent Another Greenspan

Reform plans may hand regulation over to fervent deregulators

(Newser) - There's a lot riding on reform of the financial industry, but the administration's plans to overhaul financial regulation carries the seeds of its own destruction, writes Thomas Frank. Taking oversight away from the present confusing array of agencies and making the Federal Reserve One Big Regulator means that when the... More »

Hard Times Catch Up with Well-Heeled Jobless

Generous severance packages start to sputter

(Newser) - Time and money is finally beginning to run out for large numbers of people who lost their jobs, and have been living off hefty severance packages for up to two years. Many workers who received generous exit packages from the financial and auto industries kept on spending the way they... More »

Dow Ends Shaky Day Up 76

Markets continue 7th day of wild variations

(Newser) - Stocks seesawed today as good economic data on industry and the housing sector drove big early gains, which then fell victim to selloffs in the financial sector, the Wall Street Journal reports.
  • The Dow climbed 76.71 points to close at 9,789.44.
  • Nasdaq tacked on 4.09 to
... More »

Get a Clue, Washington: You Can't Do Everything

Effort to restructure exec pay smacks of arrogance

(Newser) - Clamping down on arrogant, risk-taking execs with an overconfident attempt to overhaul private sector pay structures shows that the arrogance has migrated to the Obama administration, writes David Brooks. The government is trying to micro-manage compensation packages at a wide variety of firms when pay regulation should be done, humbly,... More »

Bank Reform Shatters Usual Party Lines

Next big domestic issue will be 'fascinating' to watch

(Newser) - Once health care reform is “settled,” Nate Silver writes, the White House will be searching for a new domestic issue. Card check is too hard, immigration will have to wait for 2012’s “younger, more diverse electorate,” and gay rights is a slog. The winner, in... More »

Goldman Exec: Pay Inequality Is Good for All

Soaring Wall Street bonuses should be tolerated for economy's sake

(Newser) - Believe it or not, lavish Goldman Sachs bonuses are good news for everybody, a company official told a discussion panel yesterday. The out-of-whack pay inequality will give the economy a kick in the pants, insisted the vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International. "We have to tolerate the inequality to... More »

JPMorgan Earns $3.6B, Despite Loan Losses

Market soars as investment profits give bank strong 3rd quarter

(AP) - JPMorgan Chase reported strong third-quarter earnings today as its thriving investment banking business more than offset rising consumer loan losses that the bank warned would continue. The company, the first of the big banks to report, showed a $3.59 billion profit, or 82 cents per share. But it also... More »

NYC Unemployment Hits 10.3%

City given grant to help laid-off Wall Street workers retrain

(Newser) - The Big Apple's unemployment rate hit double digits last month for the first time since 1993, the New York Times reports. At 10.3%, the rate is now higher than the national rate of 9.7%. State officials say continuing layoffs on Wall Street are to blame for the rise,... More »

Banks Get Back to Risky Business as Usual

Plans to overhaul regulation losing momentum as banks return to health

(Newser) - Banks that teetered on the edge of extinction last year are returning to their old ways as the shock of the financial crisis fades, the Wall Street Journal reports. The banks are handing out hefty compensation packages again and dealing in the same risky financial instruments that caused last year's... More »

Social Security Suffers as Execs' Pay Soars

Top-paid workers get a third of total US pay

(Newser) - Executives and other employees earning top dollar pull in more than a third of all US pay, the Wall Street Journal finds—and the ceiling on compensation subject to payroll taxes hasn’t risen enough accordingly, meaning the government isn’t bringing in what’s needed to plug ever-growing holes... More »

Recession Will Cost More Jobs, End 'Before Long': Fed

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve is confident the general economy is turning around but still pessimistic on the jobs part, the Wall Street Journal reports. In June meeting minutes issued today, those gathered agreed that data since April “indicated that the economic contraction was slowing and that the decline in activity... More »

Stocks Tread Water; Dow Up 5

Goldman Sachs rises, Pfizer falls

(Newser) - The stock market indices swung back and forth across a narrow range today as financials enjoyed advances but the health care sector declined, the Wall Street Journal reports. Goldman Sachs was up 3.69% after Bank of American Merrill Lynch upgraded Goldman shares from “neutral” to “buy.”... More »

Wall Street Aims to Give Itself a Facelift

Trade group mounts effort to counter 'populist overreaction'

(Newser) - Wall Street’s top trade group is fighting to fix its image amid what it calls a “populist overreaction” to the financial crisis, Bloomberg reports. Top aides to former Treasury secretary Henry Paulson are leading the “city-by-city, grassroots” campaign focused on politicians and the media. The securities industry... More »

Obama's Bank Plan Punts on Tough Parts

Krugman, Pearlstein agree: It doesn't address key problems

(Newser) - Barack Obama knows what caused the financial crisis, but his regulatory plan “basically punts on the question of how to keep it from happening all over again,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times. Obama’s plan takes the crucial step of regulating the “shadow banking”... More »

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