Top Interest Rate Headlines 01-21-11: Muni Funds Record Outflow

Muni funds record outflow
By Daniel Bases, Reuters
Municipal bond funds suffered a record outflow of cash in the week ended Jan. 19 while U.S. and European equity funds saw inflows as more cash moved off the sidelines, fund-tracker EPFR Global said on Friday.
http://jlne.ws/fYVJmu

Accounting tweak could save Fed from losses
By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa, Reuters
Concerns that the Federal Reserve could suffer losses on its massive bond holdings may have driven the central bank to adopt a little-noticed accounting change with huge implications: it makes insolvency much less likely.
http://jlne.ws/hHU3QM

IMF extends Poland $30bn credit line
BBC
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a two-year, $30bn (£19bn) credit facility with Poland, replacing a one-year arrangement agreed in July.
http://jlne.ws/eMUDUa

China’s Top Banking Regulator May Retire This Year
By Kelvin Wong, Bloomberg
China Banking Regulatory Commission Chairman Liu Mingkang may retire this year and be replaced by a senior executive from one of the country’s four biggest state- controlled banks, Ming Pao reported, citing people it didn’t identify.
http://jlne.ws/h47EaJ

Fed Buys $8.36 Billin In POMO
By Roger Nachman, Benzinga
The New York Federal Reserve purchased $8.36 billion in U.S. Treasury debt during its permanent open market operations (POMO) today. Dealers submitted $18.959 billion worth of debt, meaning the auction was more than five times oversubscribed, which is much higher than most auctions have been recently. This is something to keep an eye on going forward.
http://jlne.ws/fHfplD

China Drops Hint On Forex Policy, May Auger Higher Yuan
By Ian Talley, Automated Trader
China hinted in talks during President Hu Jintao's visit this week that it might be looking more broadly at the rationale for setting the exchange rate. A potential change may augur a higher yuan value.
http://jlne.ws/h6Xzgd

Issa Asks for Geithner, Settles for Assistant for First Oversight Hearing
Bloomberg
U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa , who has said he will hold hundreds of hearings to challenge the Obama administration, tried to get Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for his initial one. Instead, he is settling for an assistant.
http://jlne.ws/h0KDsv

Volcker Out, Immelt In on Economic Board
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and ANAHAD O'CONNOR, NY Times
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - President Obama will name Jeffrey R. Immelt, the chief executive officer and chairman of General Electric, on Friday to run his outside panel of economic advisers, replacing Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, who is stepping down, the White House said.
http://jlne.ws/eEvxDs

Banks Want Pieces of Fannie-Freddie Pie
By LOUISE STORY - NY Times
As the Obama administration prepares a report on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, some of the nation's largest banks are offering a few suggestions. Wells Fargo and some other large banks would like private companies, perhaps even themselves, to become the new housing finance giants helping to bundle individual mortgages into securities - that would be stamped with a government guarantee.
http://jlne.ws/e6NOVG

Lisbon move points to end of risk-free sovereigns
By Gillian Tett - Financial Times
Another week, another bout of angst about sovereign and municipal risk. But as investors fret about Spain and Belgium - or Illinois and California - they should take a close look at a fascinating little development in Lisbon.
http://jlne.ws/hziCo8

Goldman Downplays Spain Insolvency Fears
RTT News
Spain does not have an underlying solvency problem and the prospect of a default is highly unlikely, Goldman Sachs said on Friday.
http://jlne.ws/hNbESq

OFT chief John Fingleton: 'more banks doesn't mean more competition'
Daily Telegraph
John Fingleton, chief executive of the Office of Fair Trading, has warned MPs that simply creating more banks will not solve competition problems in UK's financial services sector.
http://jlne.ws/i9BmD5

Morgan Stanley Hires Goldman Bond Trader As Global Head Of Rates Unit
Dow Jones
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- The shuffling at Morgan Stanley (MS) continues, as the firm hired Glenn Hadden, a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) bond trader, as global head of its interest rates division.
http://jlne.ws/fEDXJS

RBS in talks to exit asset protection scheme
FT
Reuters UK Focus via Yahoo! UK & Ireland Finance
LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland isin talks with the Treasury about ways in which the partlynationalised bank could leave the government's asset protectionscheme (APS) early, the Financial ...
http://jlne.ws/h3tuFE

HSBC cuts 500 U.S. jobs, pares credit card work
Reuters HSBC Holdings Plc is laying off about 500 employees as it ends credit card customer service and c
ollections work at a center in New Castle, Delaware.
http://jlne.ws/g7DPKj

Fifth Third raises funds to repay Tarp
By Telis Demos in New York - Financial Times
Fifth Third, a leading Midwestern bank, sold $1.7bn in shares on Thursday to help repay funds the US Treasury lent it during the financial crisis.
http://jlne.ws/hR4wC6

CalPERS says investments grew 12.5% in 2010
Los Angeles Times
The smaller CalSTRS ends the year with a 12.7% return as the nation's two largest public pension funds get back on track after suffering steep losses during the recession. Investment returns at the nation's two largest public pension systems are back on track after suffering steep losses during the Great Recession.
http://jlne.ws/hScXUh

Wema Bank of Nigeria Sells $100 Million of Non-Performing Loans to Amcon
Bloomberg
Wema Bank Plc , a Nigerian lender that failed a central-bank audit in 2009, sold 15.2 billion naira ($100 million) of loans to the state-owned company set up to support the nation's banks, spokesman Tunde Olofintila said.
http://jlne.ws/f4OsRv