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Citadel delivers 10% gain on 20th anniversary

Hedge fund firm Citadel, one of the world’s biggest, returned 10 percent to its investors this year, more than double what its peers earned on average.

The Chicago-based firm’s flagship Kensington and Wellington funds climbed about 10 percent, according to a person who has seen the numbers but was not allowed to discuss them publicly. Get the full story »

PrivateBancorp stock tumbles on downgrade

Shares of PrivateBancorp Inc. are down 3.9 percent Thursday morning  after a BMO Capital Markets report downgraded it to “market perform” from “outperform.”

The “market perform” designation means that it’s now forecast to perform about in line with the market. Get the full story »

Wintrust, five others return $2.7B to Treasury

The Treasury Department says six banks have repaid government bailouts worth a combined $2.66 billion.

The banks are returning taxpayer money that they received in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

The banks that repaid their bailouts on Wednesday are Huntington Bancshares, First Horizon National Corp., Wintrust Financial Corp., Susquehanna Bancshares Inc., Heritage Financial Corp. and The Bank of Kentucky Financial Corp. Get the full story »

Brokerages to report cost basis under new IRS rule

The New Year’s celebrations will barely be over before financial advisers face their first challenge for 2011 — new rules requiring brokerages to tell Uncle Sam how much investors paid for stocks.

The cost-basis reporting rules are designed to ensure people do not understate investment gains or overstate investment losses to minimize their taxes. Get the full story »

U.S. plans two large AIG stock sales in 2011

The Treasury Department plans to sell a large piece of its stake in American International Group in two stock offerings next year, officials briefed on the situation told Reuters. Get the full story »

Grainger sells library supplies brand to DEMCO

Industrial products supplier WW Grainger Inc. said it sold its library supplies brand Highsmith to DEMCO Inc and is considering the sale of four more specialty brands.

The company, which offers almost everything from abrasives to refrigerants, said it may sell Professional Equipment, Construction Book Express, McFeely’s and Rand — which along with Highsmith accounted for one percent of its revenue.

Chicago-based Grainger said it will continue to invest in the remaining brands including Lab Safety Supply, Imperial, Gempler’s, Ben Meadows and AW Direct, and look for acquisitions. Get the full story »

Investors betting heavier on Motorola Solutions

The stock market on Friday started working out the relative values of the two companies Motorola Inc. will break into on Jan. 4, as their respective shares started trading on a “when-issued” basis. Get the full story »

Gold vending machine comes to U.S.

Shoppers who are looking for something sparkly to put under the Christmas tree can skip the jewelry and go straight to the source: an ATM that dispenses shiny 24-carat gold bars and coins. A German company planned to install the machine Friday at an upscale mall in Boca Raton, a South Florida paradise of palm trees, pink buildings and wealthy retirees. Get the full story »

FBI charges 4 in insider trading crackdown

Three employees at public companies and an executive of an expert-networking firm on Thursday became the latest to be charged in a wide-ranging Wall Street insider trading probe.

James Fleishman, 41, of Santa Clara, Calif., the networking executive, was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy for providing confidential information to the firm’s clients, including hedge funds, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said. Get the full story »

U.K. OKs CME European clearinghouse

CME Group Inc.’s European clearinghouse won U.K. regulatory approval Thursday, paving the way for the biggest U.S. futures exchange operator to expand globally.

CME plans to launch CME Clearing Europe in early 2011, the Chicago-based company said in a statement. The clearinghouse will start by clearing over-the-counter commodity products, to be followed “soon after” by over-the-counter financial products, it said. Get the full story »

BofA in mortgage settlement talks

Bank of America Corp. is in talks with a group of six investors to settle charges that it mishandled $16.5 billion in mortgages packaged into bonds, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The investor group, which includes Freddie Mac, PIMCO, BlackRock Inc. and Allianz SE, told the bank in October that it had 60 days to respond to allegations that it did not properly service 115 bond deals comprising mortgages. The deadline for the bank’s response was Thursday, the Journal said. Get the full story »

Post-split Motorola to return to investment grade

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it would lift its ratings on Motorola Inc.  back to investment-grade territory early next year when the telecom-equipment maker splits into two.

Last month, Motorola set Jan. 4 as the date it will separate into two companies. The current company will change its name to Motorola Solutions and hold onto the business mobile and networks divisions, which sells such products as police radios and barcode scanners. It will spin off a new company consisting of its consumer-focused handset business. Get the full story »

Treasury yields jump to 3.37%, a 7-month high

Encouraging economic reports are pushing Treasury yields to their highest levels in seven months. Get the full story »

Citadel hires JPMorgan trader Miguel Abreu

From HedgeFund.net | Chicago-based Citadel LLC has hired Miguel Abreu, a former JPMorgan commodities trader who worked at JPMorgan’s commodities trading desk before it was shut down.

AIG comes out of hiding on employee ID cards

Bailed-out insurer American International Group took another step in its restructuring this week, but it is only noticeable to those looking closely: it put the company’s logo back on employee identification cards. Get the full story »