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Preview: U.S. Housing Starts Set to Fall in October	11/18/2008 3:38 PM
The U.S. housing market is expected to give further proof of a long, slow-motion decline with the release of the housing starts & permits report from the Department of Commerce on Wednesday. The starts index could potentially fall to levels not seen...(read more)
BMO Rogue Trader Charged After Losing at Least C$327 Million	11/18/2008 3:15 PM
A commodities trader is alleged to have manipulated his options book to hide losses, which cost the Bank of Montreal at least C$327 million . David Lee, 36, a former natural-gas trader at the bank, pleaded guilty last week to criminal charges and is now...(read more)
NAHB Builder Confidence Plummets Beyond Record Low in November	11/18/2008 1:22 PM
A report from Wells Fargo and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports that confidence amongst homebuilders has plummeted from one all-time low to another in November. The NAHB housing market index tumbled five points to a reading of 9...(read more)
Paulson Says TARP Wasn't Designed to Help Homeowners and Automakers	11/18/2008 9:57 AM
The $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was designed to stabilize the financial system and improve lending liquidity, and "is not a panacea for all our economic difficulties" said U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Tuesday...(read more)
Bernanke Outlines Three Steps to Help Commercial Paper Markets	11/18/2008 9:56 AM
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed has developed three programs to address problems in commercial paper markets , which suffered losses upwards of $500 billion in mid-September when investors withdrew their funds. First, the Fed has allowed...(read more)
Home Prices, Existing Sales Continued to Decline in Q3, Says NAR	11/18/2008 9:55 AM
Home prices continued to fall in a majority of U.S. metropolitan areas in the third quarter, while existing home sales were also down in 32 states, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. In the third quarter, median single-family home...(read more)
Fed Chairman Bernanke Promotes TARP Injection	11/18/2008 9:09 AM
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said there are some signs that credit markets are improving, but that conditions are "still far from normal" and it is "critical" to market confidence that TARP funds are injected into financial...(read more)
The Day Ahead: US PPI; Bernanke, Bair & Paulson to Testify on TARP	11/17/2008 8:04 PM
On Tuesday, the producer price index for October and the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index for November will be released in the U.S. Market participants will also be interested in hearing testimony from Fed Chairman...(read more)
Paulson Says Government Not "Experimenting" With the TARP	11/17/2008 8:01 PM
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said tensions in financial markets will probably continue for many months, and now that his government has addressed the potential failures of massive corporations, the next step will be to deliver a boost to the...(read more)
A Look at Three More Potential Treasury Heads	11/17/2008 3:17 PM
One of the earliest and most intriguing names to emerge as a possible Secretary of the Treasury in the Obama administration is that of Warren Buffett . Buffet, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation and "The Oracle of Omaha" was an early...(read more)
The Week Ahead: CPI, Housing Starts, Building Permits, etc.	11/16/2008 5:49 PM
Inflation data in the U.S. and Canada will be highlight the coming week's data, but it won't have much impact on market direction, according to some strategists. In other data, markets will also receive regional manufacturing data for November...(read more)
G20 Summit Delivers No Decisive Action, Leaders Agree to Tighten Regulation	11/16/2008 5:40 PM
Although no concrete stimulus measures were drawn up at the emergency G20 meeting in Washington this past weekend, world leaders agreed they must work together to plug the holes in current financial regulatory systems that are the root of the current...(read more)
Speculation Abounds - Wherefore Art the New Treasury Secretary?	11/14/2008 11:45 AM
As President-elect Barack Obama works to put together a new team the focus of the media has largely been on his selection of Secretary of the Treasury . This cabinet office has always been important to the functioning of the government and the financial...(read more)
Treasury's Kashkari Wants Transparent TARP	11/14/2008 9:42 AM
In testimony before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in Washington, DC, Neel Kashkari of the U.S. Treasury Department said he is committed to keeping the deployment of the TARP funds as transparent as possible. "We have acted quickly...(read more)
Fed, SEC, CFTC and Treasury Department to Establish CDS Clearing House	11/14/2008 9:25 AM
The Fed, SEC, CFTC and Treasury Department have signed a memorandum of understanding for the creation of a clearing house for credit default swaps (CDS) , which will begin operations by the end of 2008. "A well-regulated and prudently managed CDS...(read more)