Economy | News-Opinion
TOP NEWS: Economy: October 9th, 2012
Top Five News and Analysis Links (Excerpts Below)
- How to Restore Confidence in Financial Markets
- Wal-Mart goes after banks’ business
- Midsize Banks Get Break on Stress Tests
- Goldman Turns Tables on Obama Campaign
- Investors’ Billion-Dollar Fraud Fighter
Excerpts and More Top News and Analysis:
MARKETS: How to Restore Confidence in Financial Markets - WSJ, Laurence Fink
The mutual-fund industry has stiffly opposed SEC efforts to reform money-market funds. That doesn’t instill the sort of trust we need.
MARKETS/SEC: Reform for Congo, Not Wall Street - WSJ
The SEC dawdles on credit-rating rules.
MARKETS: Gloomy earnings forecasts test US rally - FT
Third-quarter revenues stand to break long winning streak
INVESTMENT: MetLife Plans Asset-Management Unit - WSJ
MetLife unveiled plans to launch MetLife Investment Management, a new unit that will focus on real estate and private-placement debt.
CONSUMER CREDIT: Wal-Mart goes after banks’ business - WP
Retailer says its prepaid American Express card will let customers cut ties with their financial institutions.
BANKING: Midsize Banks Get Break on Stress Tests - WSJ
Midsize banks won’t have to conduct internal “stress tests” until 2013, and won’t have to publicly report the results until the 2014 stress-test round.
ECONOMICS/POLITICS: Goldman Turns Tables on Obama Campaign - WSJ
When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, no major U.S. corporation did more to finance his campaign than Goldman Sachs Group. This election, none has done more to help defeat him.
ECONOMICS/POLITICS: Partisan Bias and Economic Forecasts - NYT, BRUCE BARTLETT
Economists belonging to a political party often produce forecasts suiting the party’s needs, and that is especially evident now among Republicans.
ECONOMICS/POLITICS: Among financial pros, Romney trounces Obama - FORTUNE
Dan Primack: Romney is favored candidate of bankers, private equity execs. Of the more than 1,800 POLL respondents, 58% (1,071) said that they plan to vote for Romney next month, compared to 38% (696) who said they plan to vote for President Obama.
FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS: Investors’ Billion-Dollar Fraud Fighter - NYT
With last month’s Bank of America settlement, Max Berger has been responsible for six securities class-action settlements of more than $1 billion.
INVESTIGATIONS: Probe of Dewey’s Collapse Intensifies - WSJ
Prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether top managers at Dewey & LeBoeuf purposely misled lenders about the law firm’s financial health as a criminal probe into the firm’s failure intensifies.
INVESTIGATIONS: Conflicts of Interest? On Wall Street? - WSJ
Regulators are examining how 14 major brokerage firms define and manage conflicts of interest. Will it make a difference?
HOUSING: Housing: One More Set Of Optimistic Data Points - WSJ
Positive numbers in Fannie Mae’s September housing survey show a growing number of Americans believe
CURRENCY: Dollar’s days as reserve currency are numbered - FT, Barry Eichengreen
The US, Europe and China must share the burden of supplying safe and liquid assets.
FED: Who gets the Fed Chief job if president wins second term? - WP
Neil Irwin: Whoever is inaugurated as president Jan. 20 will, in the first year of his term, face a decision that will have a greater impact on the economy than any other single call he will make: Whom to select as chairman of the Federal Reserve.
TAXES/LOCAL: The Best and Worst Governors on Growth - WSJ
Sam Brownback, Rick Scott, Paul LePage and Tom Corbett all get an ‘A’ as tax cutters.
TAXES/GOP: Republicans shift tone on taxing the rich - FT
Move could ease concern over US ‘fiscal cliff’
JOBS REPORT: The Right’s Love of Conspiracy Theories - BLOOMBERG, Josh Barro
Conservatives are dumbfounded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey of unemployment, which found 873,000 more Americans working in September and the unemployment rate falling by 0.3 points. Some are being driven to derangement: If the numbers are that favorable, then the books must be cooked.
SUPREME COURT: Justices Let Telecom Immunity Stand - WSJ
The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a 2008 law that gave legal immunity to telecommunications companies that allegedly helped the National Security Agency with warrantless eavesdropping.
SUPREME COURT: High Court Rejects Chevron Challenge - WSJ
The Supreme Court refused to consider Chevron’s bid to block plaintiffs from trying to collect a $19 billion Ecuadorean environmental judgment against the company.
TOLL ROADS: You Pay the Toll. Where Should That Money Go? - NYT, ROOM FOR DEBATE
Should revenue from toll roads be spent on other transportation priorities, like public transit?
INTERNET FREEDOM: Free to choose - ECONOMIST
Governments and internet firms are wrestling with the rules for free speech online.
AUTOMOTIVE: How a Downshift in China Could Hurt GM, VW and Toyota - WSJ
A prolonged slowdown in the growth rate of Chinese auto sales – let alone a real contraction – will expose how oversupplied with car factories and car brands China has become.
BUSINESS NEWS & ANALYSIS
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