Monday, June 4, 2012

JPMorgan probe turns to regulators

Welcome to the morning roundup. Here's a look at what's news in banking and finance.

JPM regulators. The Senate Banking Committee is now looking into how much federal regulators know about the trading operations at JPMorgan Chase in advance of its $2 billion-plus losses, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, has asked the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for information on how it reviewed the chief investment office.

Lending too tight. An analyst who has traditionally been critical of banks' mortgage practices is now saying that regulations have grown too strict and have constricted credit, Bloomberg reports. Laurie Goodman of Amherst Securities Group LP says that as different agencies have "piled up" rules, nobody's been paying attention to how they interact.

European crossroads. After Friday's negative economic data release, leaders of the eurozone appear to be coming to a type of turning point, The New York Times says, on whether the political will can be mustered to hold the union together.

Dow, S&P suffer. Recent bad news has now wiped out the rally in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 from the early part of the year, Bloomberg says. Still, large corporations are on track for record earnings.

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