Nov. 3, 2010 at 5:23 p.m.
Filed under:
Exchanges,
Policy,
Regulations
By Reuters
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler says he’s so close to his counterpart at the Securities and Exchange Commmision that SEC Chief Mary Schapiro gave him a treat a couple weeks back.
“Mary and I talk often,” he told a crowd at the Futures Industry Association’s annual meeting in Chicago. “It was my birthday a few weeks ago. She made me cupcakes. They were good cupcakes too, and they were homemade!”
Schapiro and Gensler have taken great pains to publicly show they are working together instead of feuding over turf, as their agencies historically often did. Get the full story »
Nov. 3, 2010 at 10:46 a.m.
Filed under:
Exchanges,
Investing,
Regulations
By Associated Press
Federal regulators have mandated new requirements for brokerage firms aimed at reining in risk from their trading customers who get split-second access to markets to buy or sell stocks.
Nov. 3, 2010 at 10:07 a.m.
Filed under:
Autos,
Bankruptcy,
IPOs,
Taxes
By Reuters
General Motors can get a tax break of up to $45 billion as part of its U.S. government-financed restructuring, documents filed with federal regulators earlier this year showed.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that GM would not have to pay federal taxes on up to $50 billion in profits. A later version of this story revised this figure to about $45 billion.
This figure also includes $18.88 billion of carry-forwards, according to the automaker’s annual filing from April. Get the full story »
Nov. 2, 2010 at 5:11 p.m.
Filed under:
Education,
Investigations,
Jobs/employment
By Ameet Sachdev
Career Education Corp. said Tuesday that it will pay about $40 million to settle lawsuits filed by students in one of its culinary schools.
The settlement was recorded as a pretax charge against the company’s third-quarter earnings. In the quarter ended Sept. 30, Career Education reported net income of $26.1 million, or 33 cents a diluted share. Operating income excluding the $40 million charge was $78.3 million.
In the year ago quarter, the company, which operates for-profit colleges, reported net income of $20.8 million, or 25 cents a diluted share. The year-ago quarter also included a special item for $18.8 million in compensation expense. Get the full story »
Nov. 2, 2010 at 3:25 p.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
International,
Regulations
By Reuters
Top regulators from the United States and the European Union discussed reforms for futures and over-the-counter derivatives as they toured the world’s largest exchange on Tuesday and lunched with a group of Chicago futures traders and exchange executives. Get the full story »
Oct. 29, 2010 at 8:38 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Regulations
By Reuters
The head of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc said on Friday he does not expect any new obligations or privileges for U.S. “market-makers” until 2012 at the earliest, calling any regulatory change “a slippery slope.” Get the full story »
Oct. 29, 2010 at 7:03 a.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Pharmaceuticals
By Reuters
Merck & Co. reported disappointing quarterly sales on Friday and took an almost $1 billion charge related to a previously disclosed U.S. government probe of its recalled Vioxx arthritis drug.
The drugmaker, which completed it $41 billion acquisition of Schering-Plough Corp in November 2009, said third quarter earnings fell 89 percent to $372 million, or 11 cents per share, reflecting charges related to the merger as well as the new $950 million Vioxx legal reserve. The company earned $3.46 billion, or $1.61 per share in the year earlier period. Get the full story »
Oct. 29, 2010 at 5:36 a.m.
Filed under:
Health care,
Pharmaceuticals,
Policy
By Reuters
Vivus Inc.’s weight-loss drug candidate Qnexa failed to win over U.S. health regulators, who declined to approve the diet pill, asking for evidence related to heart risk and other information.
The Food and Drug Administration told Vivus on Thursday that its new drug application for Qnexa could not approved in its present form. Get the full story »
By Associated Press
Federal regulators say Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay a fine of $25 million and at least $52.8 million in refunds to customers who inadvertently racked up data charges on their phones over the last three years. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 1:27 p.m.
Filed under:
Investigations,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Eleven Chicago-area companies were cited Thursday by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation for offering mortgage loan modifications to consumers without a license.
The companies ordered to stop offering loan medications and pay a fine of $25,000 each were Opportunity Consultants; Carrey Services; American Accurate Services; Gamez & Associates Ltd.; Juan Hernandez; Home Loan Modification; Homeowner’s Advocates Centers; Imperium Realty Group; Mortgage Mitigators; Mi Familia; and Loan Rescue Corp. Get the full story »
Oct. 26, 2010 at 2:56 p.m.
Filed under:
Airlines,
Regulations,
Technology,
Travel
By Associated Press
Several leading Internet travel agencies and search engines are urging U.S. government regulators to block Google from buying a technology supplier that plays an instrumental role in finding the best airline fares. The opponents, led by Expedia Inc., have formed a coalition called FairSearch.org to fight Google Inc.’s proposed $700 million acquisition of ITA Software.
Oct. 21, 2010 at 5:58 p.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Housing,
Policy,
Stock activity
By Los Angeles Times
The cost for the huge government bailouts of housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will grow — and possibly more than double to $363 billion — over the next three years.
But the taxpayer loss depends mainly on the health of the economy and the real estate market, a federal regulator said Thursday. Get the full story »
Oct. 19, 2010 at 9:31 a.m.
Filed under:
Bank failures,
Banking
By Associated Press
Federal regulators have lowered the estimated cost of bank failures by $8 billion over four years and are proposing no increase in the fees banks pay to replenish the fund that insures deposits. Get the full story »
Oct. 18, 2010 at 11:56 a.m.
Filed under:
China,
International,
Manufacturing
By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal
Boeing Co., in cooperation with Air China Ltd. and others, plans to test a commercial-jet biofuel in China produced from a locally grown plant by the middle of 2011-part of an effort to commercialize cleaner fuels world-wide and bolster China’s potential as a biofuel provider.
Boeing first tested a biofuel on a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 jet in early 2008 in London. It has since conducted similar tests a few more times, each time experimenting with different types of biofuels on different engines. The China demonstration flight, expected to be conducted by May or June next year, would be Boeing’s sixth such demonstration flight using a biofuel, said a Boeing executive, Al Bryant, in an interview Monday with The Wall Street Journal. Get the full story »
By Reuters
A new fund could help bring high speed Internet to unserved and remote areas of the United States, U.S. telecommunications regulators said on Thursday.
The Federal Communications Commission proposed allocating universal service funds — fees consumers pay telephone companies to subsidize landline phone services for low-income and rural families — to create a “mobility fund” to expand broadband Internet to areas without service. Get the full story »
