Mary Fallin Defeats Jari Askins In Oklahoma Governor's Race

Jamie Dimon: These Days People See A "Black Swan Behind Every Rock"
Email Sent! You have successfully emailed the post. Jamie Dimon is pretty Bullish sounding on the US economy. He's on CNBC with Maria Bartiromo. Everything is better than it was a year ago. JPMorgan is Lending more to everyone than it was a years ago. It's fashionable to be obsessed with Black Swans now... people see a black swan behind every rock. You can't just stop Foreclosures, and if policy makers do then that will ruin the Mortgage market in America. JPMorgan is well more capitalized than...

Stocks head higher as worries about Europe ease
(01-12) 08:46 PST NEW YORK, (AP) -- Stocks are climbing in midday trading after a successful bond auction in Portugal eased worries about Europe's Debt crisis. Portugal borrowed $1.6 billion at a lower Interest Rate than many expected. That helped reassure investors concerned that Portugal may become the third European country to require a Bailout after Greece and Ireland. JPMorgan Chase & Co. rose 2.4 percent after the company's CEO, Jamie Dimon, told CNBC late Tuesday that the bank hopes to ...

Small banks to lend more to business: study
A majority of small, community-focused U.S. banks plan to lend more to businesses in 2011 than 2010, according to a recent study by industry consulting firm Sageworks Inc. According to the study, 58 percent of lenders at community banks plans to make significantly more commercial loans this year than last. Roughly 38 percent of lenders said they plan to make the same number of commercial loans, while 11 percent said their commercial loan portfolios would shrink. The survey polled lenders at 15...

Not Everyone Is Leaving Phil Falcone's Harbinger By Choice
Email Sent! You have successfully emailed the post. We found out yesterday that Harbinger's head of investments, Lawrence Clark, was leaving Phil Falcone's Hedge Fund. Now it seems his exit is part of a larger story of departing Staffers - some by choice, but others by force, according to Reuters. With funds down to $7 billion (from a $26 billion peak), and the firm seemingly facing a different hurdle each week, it's not a huge shock there have been several high-profile departures. Kenneth Tura...

Obama, Daley, and Progressive Strategy Now (Huffington Post)
Read Mike Lux's other articles on HuffingtonPost.com A lot of progressive leaders and writers, yours truly included, have expressed concerns about Bill Daley's appointment as COS. One of the most depressing pieces was written by Simon Johnson, the former IMF chief Economist who has written brilliantly and compellingly over the last couple of years about banking issues. His entire piece is well worth reading, especially in light of the mess these uber-powerful big banks have made of the...

Economic realities for 2011
The economic crisis resulting from the financial chaos that peaked in 2007-2008 continues despite rosy stories by financial news writers across the country.  Most of these same writers were plugging along just before the financial collapse two years ago telling us how great things were going, with a little salt thrown in about some potential problems in The Economy at the time.  Very few forecast the chaos and impact the self-imposed breakdown of the Financial Markets in 2008.  On...

Stress Tests For Banks Will Be Kept Secret
Wall Street's largest firms will undergo scrutiny by the Federal Reserve in the coming months, as they submit to a new round of "Stress Tests," designed to gauge their financial health, the " target="_hplink">Financial Times reports. Like the earlier set of tests, completed in 2009, these will attempt to determine whether financial companies are able to withstand another crisis. But while the results of the first tests were made public in an effort to reassure Taxpayers and investors, the resu...

A Market That Everyone Used to Hate Is Suddenly Getting Sexy
Email Sent! You have successfully emailed the post. Japan is obviously the poster-child for long-term Bear Market. Even last year, when other markets were boom, the Nikkei continued to slide, losing 3% for the year. You can see how much of a laggard it was in this chart. But there are signs that the mood is turning. First of all, it's one of the Hottest markets this year already, lapping the competition. And even perma-bears like David Rosenberg are turning Bullish. He writes today: Japan trade...

AIG to fully repay U.S. government
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- American International Group, which received a massive Bailout in 2008, said Wednesday that it expects to complete a recapitalization by the end of the week that will allow it to fully pay back the government. Following through on a plan announced last year, AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) will convert outstanding preferred shares acquired by the Treasury into common stock. When the transaction is complete, the Treasury will own approximately 92% of AIG's common shares. Email Prin...

Housing market will pick up along with job creation
An improvement in the Housing Market could begin this year if Job Creation picks up pace, industry experts said Wednesday at the International Builders' Show in Orlando.  Still, a full housing recovery isn't expected for at least two years, and could be further hampered through 2011 if hiring doesn't accelerate, according to the forecast reported by The Associated Press.  Although some in the housing industry are pessimistic, choosing to predict that the market won't get any worse, several a...

Lloyds boss in line for 2m bonus
What do Investment Banks do? Q&A: What is a Stress Test? Lloyds Banking Group boss Eric Daniels is in line for a Bonus of about £2m this year, the BBC has learned. Mr Daniels, who steps down in March, has turned down a Bonus in the past two years but will not do so again, sources told BBC business editor Robert Peston. The government bailed out Lloyds after it took over HBOS in 2008, and still holds a 41% stake in the bank. On Tuesday, Barclays boss Bob Diamond said he had not decided...

Art Cashin On The Bank That Makes Lehman's Leverage Look Like Child's Play
Email Sent! You have successfully emailed the post. And You Thought Lehman Was Leveraged : A large bank reported record earnings last week. The earnings weren’t just a record for the bank; they were the greatest one year earnings in the entire history of banking. Over thousands of years, no single bank has earned anything like this. So, you wonder, why didn’t you hear much about it? Why were there no irate headlines about the “bailed out Fat Cat Wall Street Bankers plundering ...

U.S. Stocks Get a Lift From Portugal and the Dollar
Stocks closed broadly higher Wednesday after Portugal's government had no trouble in tapping global Debt markets, helping ease European Debt fears. The euro gained at The Dollar's expense, which lifted a broad basket of commodities as well as U.S. equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) rose 84 points, or 0.7%, to close at 11,755, led by bank stocks JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC). The blue-chip index tacked on as much as 110 points earlier in the session but pared it...

US economy growing 'moderately'
In its latest Beige Book report, the US Central Bank said the Manufacturing sector continued to enjoy the biggest upturn, while Retailers saw a rise in sales over Christmas. The Fed said the housing sector remained subdued across the US. The data showed the US economy grew by 2.6% between July and September. However, this annualised level is too low to tackle the country's continuing high level of Unemployment. The most recent figures showed that the US jobless rate totalled 9.4% in Decembe...

Economy continues to recover slowly, Fed says
Cautious optimism was again the theme heard by officials with the 12 Federal Reserve Banks from November through December, according to the latest "beige book" release by the Fed. After receiving anecdotal takes from business contacts, officials reported that The Economy continues to "expand modestly," but that the Housing Market continues to lag and act as a drag on the overall comeback. Hiring and employment has been a big question recently, as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke recently told lawmak...

Fed survey: US economy ends 2010 on strong note
WASHINGTON—The U.S. economy ended last year on an encouraging note, with all parts of the country showing improvements. Factories produced more, shoppers spent more and companies hired more. All those signs point to a stronger economy in 2011. That's the picture that emerges from the Federal Reserve's survey of nationwide economic conditions released Wednesday. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is optimistic that The Economy will strengthen this year, but warned last week that it will take up to ...

Fed survey: US economy ends 2010 on strong note
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy ended last year on an encouraging note, with all parts of the country showing improvements. Factories produced more, shoppers spent more and companies hired more. All those signs point to a stronger economy in 2011. That’s the picture that emerges from the Federal Reserve’s survey of nationwide economic conditions released Wednesday. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is optimistic that The Economy will strengthen this year, but warned last week that i...

Fed survey: US economy ends 2010 on strong note
The U.S. economy ended last year on an encouraging note, with all parts of the country showing improvements. Factories produced more, shoppers spent more and companies hired more. All those signs point to a stronger economy in 2011. That's the picture that emerges from the Federal Reserve's survey of nationwide economic conditions released Wednesday. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is optimistic that The Economy will strengthen this year, but warned last week that it will take up to five years for une...

What's a "Libertarian Solution" to the Foreclosure Mess?
There's a sort of fair question highlighted at Balloon Juice--why aren't Libertarians proposing solutions for the Foreclosure crisis? There are serious paperwork issues, which banks seem to have tried to solve by throwing together some highly suspect legal documents. As Mistermix says, "Since the basis of libertarian philosophy is property rights, I would have expected a little more outrage from places like Reason about robo-signing". ED Kain adds "In any case, I say mistermix's critique is fair...

Obama, Daley, and Progressive Strategy Now
A lot of progressive leaders and writers, yours truly included, have expressed concerns about Bill Daley's appointment as COS. One of the most depressing pieces was written by Simon Johnson, the former IMF chief Economist who has written brilliantly and compellingly over the last couple of years about banking issues. His entire piece is well worth reading, especially in light of the mess these uber-powerful big banks have made of the housing, Mortgage, and Foreclosure situation. With judges in...

Mike Lux: Obama, Daley, and Progressive Strategy Now
A lot of progressive leaders and writers, yours truly included, have expressed concerns about Bill Daley's appointment as COS. One of the most depressing pieces was written by Simon Johnson, the former IMF chief Economist who has written brilliantly and compellingly over the last couple of years about banking issues. His entire piece is well worth reading, especially in light of the mess these uber-powerful big banks have made of the housing, Mortgage, and Foreclosure situation. With judges in...

Blackboard Reaffirms 2010 Guidance and Provides First Quarter 2011 & Full Year 2011 Guidance
"We had a strong end to 2010, and accordingly, we currently expect to deliver financial results above the mid-point of our previously provided guidance, subject to the completion of our closing process and financial audit," said Michael Chasen, CEO and President of Blackboard Inc. Beginning in 2011, Blackboard's non-GAAP financial measures will exclude certain impacts of acquisitions. Specifically, the Company will provide guidance to and report a non-GAAP revenue measure which will include def...

Guest Post: Seeking An Interest Rate Solution
Guest Post: Seeking An Interest Rate Solution When the Fed lowered the interest rates for overnight borrowing to near zero, it was said to be a measure to stimulate the seized credit markets. Low interest rates stimulate borrowing. On the demand side that is true. On the supply side, it is clearly not the case. The Financial Crisis woke America up from years of binge borrowing. Now we had the credit hangover to deal with. So while low interest rates were appealing for those who wished to refi...

Stop gobbling up bonds -- they're risky!
(MONEY Magazine) -- Normally, investors gorge on bonds only when they're scared out of their wits -- typically because they've taken such a beating in stocks that they can't bear the thought of losing one more cent. Eventually that terror subsides, only to be replaced by greed. That's when investors spurn fixed-income investments and start devouring stocks. When another market cycle ends, they get nervous again -- and the fear-greed seesaw repeats itself. Email Print Comment At least, that's ...

Herman Cain defends the Federal Reserve
I’ve mentioned before that I’m skeptical of Herman Cain, who expected to make his second presidential bid official any day now, in part because of his deference to government over the Free Market. For example, he backed TARP at the height of the Financial Crisis in 2008 - calling it a “recovery plan.” He slammed opponents of the program on the right, calling us “free market purists.” Now, Cain, a former Board Member of the Federal Reserve, is telling us that t...