| More fiscal data on investment firms urged / But Treasury chief doesn't call for rules on commercial banks
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday that Wall Street investment firms must provide more information about their financial condition if they are occasionally allowed to borrow money from the Federal Reserve as commercial banks do. But he did not call for investment banks to be regulated in the same manner that commercial banks now are. Paulson defended the Fed's recent offering of a $30 billion credit line to JPMorgan Chase to help it take over the foundering Bear Stearns investment bank, but he said such moves ought not to become routine. "The Federal Reserve acted promptly to resolve the Bear Stearns situation and avoid a disorderly wind-down," Paulson said at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's annual Capital Markets Summit. "It is the job of regulators to come together to address times such as this, and we did so." Paulson acknowledged that the Fed's decision to lend to investment banks creates a contradiction between how commercial and investment banks are being treated, and he implied that investment banks ought to be subject to the "same type of regulation." But moments later, he said: "Recent market conditions are an exception from the norm.
Mutual Funds: Most funds see pullbacks in 1st quarter
NEW YORK -- As stock market analysts were starting to tally up Wall Street's first-quarter performance, they came up with a bleak but unsurprising result: Stock mutual funds in just about every corner were a losing proposition. With few exceptions, such as funds that focus on gold or those that bet stocks would fall, most investors saw steep declines in their fund holdings in the quarter. Figures from fund tracker Lipper Inc. show negative returns that approached or reached double digits in most stock fund categories; Lipper's calculations included results through Thursday. From large-cap value funds (down 9.2 percent) to small-cap growth funds (down 14.4 percent), many investors emerged from the volatility of the first quarter with less money than at the start of the year.
N.J. exodus cutting into home sales
"Where have all the dollars gone?" That's one question asked by a Rutgers University study that examines the extent and effect of higher-income migration out of New Jersey. It's important because those who move take with them jobs, money, skills and future New Jersey tax revenues. What the emigrants leave behind are high taxes -- the 10th highest in the nation, according to the nonprofit Tax Foundation group -- and homes. Lots and lots of homes. Another study, by the Otteau Appraisal Group working for developer CRC Communities, says home sales in Hunterdon fell 31% from 2003 to 2007, and that the number of unsold homes increased by 51% for the same period. As a result, the time needed to sell a home has increased from one month in 2004 to nine months in 2007 "and rose in January 2008 to 12 months," according to the report.
(AFX UK Focus) 2008-03-24 15:39 GMT: Treasurys fall as stock market rallies
NEW YORK (AP) - Treasurys fell sharply Monday as another big gain on Wall Street encouraged investors to draw more money away from the safety of bonds. A sweetened buyout deal for Bear Stearns Cos. and better than expected housing data also lessened the market's appetite for government debt. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its offer for Bear Stearns to $10 a share from $2 a share -- a move aimed at assuaging Bear Stearns shareholders that now values the failing investment bank at around $1.19 billion. A better-than-anticipated report on the housing market also encouraged investors to leave the safety of government securities after the three-day weekend. The National Association of Realtors said February sales of existing homes rose by 2.9 percent -- the first rise after six consecutive months of declines.
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