WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – Arguing that small businesses continue to face challenges accessing credit, a key Treasury official on Friday made the case for an Obama administration proposal that would use $30 billion of a bank bailout program to help small banks assist small businesses.
BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Freddie Mac , the mortgage-finance giant in government conservatorship, said Friday that it will stop buying and securitzing interest-only mortgages on or around Sept. 1, 2010. The loans, which have come under fire in the wake of the housing bust, allow borrowers to only pay interest for a set amount of time without principal payments.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – Private equity investors should be permitted to infuse capital into the financial system in an easier manner because these investors posses the “necessary managerial and financial resources,” to operate banks, said a key regulator on Friday. “In the Office of Thrift Supervision’s opinion, the greatest impediment private capital investors face is a general misconception that they engage in risky activities that are inherently unsafe and unsound, and therefore incompatible with the fundamental principles of banking,” said OTS acting chairman John Bowman in prepared testimony to the House Financial Services Committee. “The OTS does not accept, nor has it ever accepted, this blanket mischaracterization.” Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Dominion said Friday it continues to expect 2010 operating earnings of $3.20 a share to $3.40 a share after the power firm settlemed a rate case with regulators in Virginia. As a result of the revised settlement agreement, Dominion recorded a charge of $174 million, or 29 cents a share to fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 reported earnings that is not included in operating earnings for 2009.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Dominion said Friday it continues to expect 2010 operating earnings of $3.20 a share to $3.40 a share after the power firm settlemed a rate case with regulators in Virginia. As a result of the revised settlement agreement, Dominion recorded a charge of $174 million, or 29 cents a share to fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 reported earnings that is not included in operating earnings for 2009.
LONDON (MarketWatch) — UBS downgraded Motorola Inc. to neutral from buy Friday, citing valuation as it also cut its rating on Palm Inc. to sell from neutral
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices pared an earlier loss on Friday, though short-term yields remained higher, after a report showed U.S. real gross domestic product increased at a 5.9% seasonally adjusted annualized pace in the final three months of 2009, revised up from 5.7% estimated last month. Yields on 2-year notes stayed up by 3 basis point at 0.83%.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The dollar regained some ground on Friday after a report showed U.S. real gross domestic product increased at a 5.9% seasonally adjusted annualized pace in the final three months of 2009, revised up from 5.7% estimated last month
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — Crude futures traded little changed on Friday after data showed that U.S. real gross domestic product increased at a 5.9% seasonally adjusted annualized pace, revised up from 5.7% estimated last month
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — CenterPoint Energy Inc. on Friday said its fourth-quarter net income rose to $105 million, or 27 cents a share, from $87 million or 25 cents a share, in the year-ago period
