Financial Service News

Wall Street's biggest investment banks on Wednesday disclosed the amount of highest-risk assets on their books increased in the first fiscal quarter, as certain kinds of debt and other instruments became harder ... via New York Business.com

Crude oil surged near its previous record above $111 a barrel after a large surprise drop in U.S. crude inventories. via Reuters

Lehman Brothers Predicts Zero UBS Profit in 2Q; Kervel led to No Loss of Confidence, Says SocGen CEO Bouton; Carlsberg Raised to "Overweight" at Morgan Stanley on Growth via ClipSyndicate

“The problem is Microsoft blundered with the letter this weekend”

A major Yahoo Inc shareholder, Legg Mason, is ready to back Yahoo's effort to stay independent if Microsoft Corp lowers its buyout offer, the Wall Street Journal said, citing an interview with portfolio ... via Scientific American

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell recently received his first call from a political pollster despite nearly a lifetime in politics.

The caller from the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute wanted Rendell's opinions on the Democratic presidential race between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois in the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.

As Clinton's most visible supporter in the state, Rendell was better prepared than most of the 1,340 likely Democratic voters who took part in the poll. Read more

Citigroup Inc , the largest U.S. bank, is close to selling about $12 billion of leveraged loans and bonds to a group of private equity firms, people familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. via Reuters

Goldman Sachs Downgrades Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to "Sell", Lehman Brothers Upgrades Stocks to "Overweight" via ClipSyndicate

Worries about a deep recession -- not a shallow one -- drove Federal Reserve policymakers to slash a key interest rate last month, meeting minutes show.

Even as the Fed battled in almost unprecedented fashion to stem a widening credit and housing slump, some members fretted over the possibility of a "prolonged and severe" economic downturn. It was in that environment that they voted -- with two dissents -- to cut its most important interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 2.25 percent. That action capped the most aggressive Fed intervention in a quarter-century. Read more

“As a result, TERI has experienced a significant decline in revenues just as the slowing economy led to an increase in the default rate of student loans.”

By MARK JEWELL The Associated Press Tuesday, April 8, 2008; 12:23 PM BOSTON -- A nonprofit firm that provides financial guarantees for student-loan services provider First Marblehead Corp. via Washington Post

“It will provide a lot of challenges for the brewing industry”

Jim Salinger, a climate scientist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, said climate change likely will cause a decline in the production of malting barley in parts of New ... via ABC News

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says the Bush administration will have to fight for every vote on the proposed free trade agreement with Colombia. via WWSB

Chairman Henry Waxman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has questions about the Federal Reserve's unilateral decision to let New-York-based financial firm BlackRock manage $30 billion in ... via CBS 2

Analysis and Discussion with Paul Miller of Friedman Billings Ramsey via ClipSyndicate

Discover Financial Services said Monday morning that it has agreed to buy Citigroup Inc. 's Diners Club International operation for $165 million, in a move the Riverwoods-based credit-card concern said will boost its market position.

Under terms of the transaction, Discover said, Citigroup will continue to issue Diners Club branded cards, but Discover will not.

Diners Club cards will be accepted wherever Discover cards are, and Discover card holders will similarly be able to use their cards at outlets which honor Diners Club cards. Read more

“We're pleased to have reached this agreement with Mr. Icahn”

Motorola Inc. has reached an agreement with activist investor Carl Icahn over hotly contested board seats, avoiding a proxy battle and welcoming in the shareholder as the company plans to split in half.

Under the agreement, which was announced on Monday, Motorola will appoint one of Icahn's nominees to the board immediately and back a second Icahn candidate at the annual shareholders' meeting in May. Icahn will drop litigation he had filed in Delaware last month to gain access to internal company documents. Motorola will solicit input from Icahn on 'significant matters' such as the break-up into two independent businesses and the search for a new chief executive of the separated cell-phone unit, the company said in a joint statement with Icahn. Read more

“We have this tug of war going on ... I think that fundamentals will eventually prevail and pull back oil prices as you can defy the gravity of fundamentals only for so long.”

Oil prices rose Monday in Asia as prospects for further cuts in U.S. interest rates seemed more likely after poor U.S. jobs data at the end of last week.

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that employers cut payrolls by 80,000 jobs last month, much more than analysts had expected. The news that the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent is consistent with forecasts that the U.S. is experiencing a sharp pullback in economic growth in the first half of the year.

'The dollar fell because investors figured that the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut interest rates even further to help bolster the economy,' said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. Read more

Washington Mutual Inc. , the largest U.S. savings and loan, rose in German trading after the Wall Street Journal said the Seattle-based company may get $5 billion from an investment group led by private-equity ... via Bloomberg

“They are negotiators, but what they haven't realised is that there are certain issues that James won't negotiate”

LACHLAN Murdoch's return to the Australian media landscape remained in the balance late yesterday, as a tug of war continued between his partners in the $3.2 billion takeover of Consolidated Media Holdings. via The Age

“That'll be sometime in the next year or so that we'll have a new version”

MICROSOFT co-founder Bill Gates expects the new version of Windows operating software, code-named Windows 7, to be released "sometime in the next year or so." The software giant has been aiming to issue more ... via News.com.au

“Keeping track of where your money goes is the most important financial task you can undertake”

When mathematics professor Annalisa Crannell needs new clothes, she doesn't head for the mall or outlet stores or even discount stores. via Courier-News