Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Goldman building private bank

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

Private bank. Goldman Sachs is quietly building an in-house bank to lend money to wealthy people and companies, the Wall Street Journal reports. The new unit will also lend more directly to corporations. Meanwhile, the New York securities firm reported this morning its profit fell 11 percent in the second quarter amid continued economic troubles.

Libor. A top British official said discussions with American authorities during the financial crisis of 2008 focused on ways to improve Libor -- not warnings about the rate-rigging scandal, the New York Times reports. Adding to probes by U.S. and U.K. authorities, attorneys general in at least five states are now conducting investigations tied to alleged manipulation of the rate, too, Bloomberg reports.

Risk remains. Investors see big banks as riskier than before the financial crisis and "probably always will," Reuters writes, citing a report from Moody's Analytics. The report from the sister company of the bond-rating agency said risk premiums for bank debt are "highly unlikely ever to return to their former levels."

Stocks advance. U.S. stocks climbed this morning as investors bet Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will hint at more stimulus during his testimony to Congress, Bloomberg reports. Bernanke will deliver his semi-annual report on the economy and monetary policy before Congress today and tomorrow.

2 comments:

Garth Vader said...

Ms. Pittman,

How can the Fed's actions be termed "stimulus" when unemployment is HIGHER today than it was prior to the start of the first round of "stimulus" (which consisted of the Fed's first Quantitative Easing maneuver coupled with the Obama spending plan)?

Please look past the facile euphemisms Mr. Bernanke and his co-conspirators use and report what is actually happening: raw money printing and the destruction of the dollar as the world's reserve currency.

Anonymous said...

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