Top Interest Rate Headlines 09-02-11: Jobless Rate To Be Over 8% In 2012: White House

Jobless rate to be over 8% in 2012: White House
By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch
President Barack Obama will attempt re-election with an unemployment rate of 8.2%, the White House estimated Thursday as it laid out its economic forecasts.
http://jlne.ws/q9QeO1

Brazilian minister warns against ‘QE3’
By Samantha Pearson, FT.com
http://jlne.ws/pnwWmJ

Regulators seek high frequency trading secrets
Reuters
U.S. securities regulators have taken the unprecedented step of asking high-frequency trading firms to hand over the details of their trading strategies, and in some cases, their secret computer codes.
http://jlne.ws/p4K6cl

Bailed Out Bank Receives Another $6 Million in Federal Funds
By Jay Corn, Minnetonka Patch
A Lake Minnetonka financial institution that still owes the government millions in federal bailout money has received another $6 million from the U.S. Treasury Department. McLeod Bancshares, the parent company of First Minnesota Bank, plans to use the money to pay off and refinance its initial federal Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) loan, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
http://jlne.ws/onGvkR

The Price of 9/11 - Joseph E. Stiglitz - Project Syndicate
The September 11, 2001, terror attacks by Al Qaeda were meant to harm the United States, and they did, but in ways that Osama bin Laden probably never imagined. President George W. Bush’s response to the attacks compromised America’s basic principles, undermined its economy, and weakened its security.
http://jlne.ws/rdafnT

Calling on the Fed
By CATHERINE RAMPELL, The New York Times
What I would give to be a fly on in the wall at the Federal Reserve right now, where Ben S. Bernanke is probably doing a double take on Friday’s horrible jobs report.
http://jlne.ws/nQ9lqm

Inflation Is Easy to Free, Hard to Control
Bloomberg
Inflation? No, thank you.We just endured and survived a major political crisis over the possibility that the U.S. government might default on its debts. Most people -- other than a few high-stakes poker players on the right wing of the Republican Party -- agreed that this would be a terrible thing. But now, a growing number of voices, mainly on the left wing of the Democratic Party but also in the Federal Reserve, are calling for what is in effect default in slow motion. It goes by the name of inflation.
http://jlne.ws/q01GXT

From Unemployed To Unemployable
by Jacob Goldstein, NPR
The unemployment rate didn't budge in August, according to this morning's jobs report. Net job growth was zero. Also basically unchanged: The number of people who have been out of work and looking for a job for six months or more.
http:jlne.ws/nNawSt

Job growth grinds to a halt in August
By Lucia Mutikani, Reuters
U.S. employment growth ground to a halt in August, reviving recession fears and piling pressure on both President Barack Obama and the Federal Reserve to provide more stimulus to aid the frail economy.
http://jlne.ws/ou0zeq

What Does ‘Economic Growth’ Mean for Americans?
By UWE E. REINHARDT, NY Times
Suppose we placed a carefully selected sample of men on a hot stove and another sample of men on dry ice. Could we reasonably conclude that, on average, they were comfortable?
http://jlne.ws/pgYgLt

London Stock Exchange Said to Join in Bidding for Swaps Clearinghouse LCH
Bloomberg
London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE) is holding talks with LCH.Clearnet Group Ltd., to buy the world's biggest clearinghouse for swaps. The exchange "is currently in discussions with LCH.Clearnet regarding a potential transaction," LSE said in a statement on the Regulatory News Service today.
http://jlne.ws/nNFKc3

Greek bail-out talks take unplanned pause
Reuters
Talks between Greece and EU/IMF/ECB inspectors on whether it has met conditions for a new aid tranche have been put on hold, a Greek official said on Friday, a day after Athens admitted it would miss its budget deficit targets this year.
http://jlne.ws/qm5pcn

Ackermann Spurns Lagarde Call for Mandatory European Bank Recapitalization
Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann rejected a call by International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde to force European banks to increase capital levels.
http://jlne.ws/qAzbAb

Italy near to completing austerity deal
By Guy Dinmore in Rome, Financial Times
Italy’s squabbling centre-right government has cobbled together a compromise austerity package that relies heavily on a renewed crackdown on tax evasion to reach the goal demanded by the European Central Bank of a balanced budget by 2013.
http://jlne.ws/qlt79l

Franken Pursues Tighter Oversight of Rating Agencies
By BEN PROTESS, NY Times
The Dodd-Frank Act cracked down on the credit rating agencies, the firms that awarded rosy ratings to bonds backed by junky mortgages, but some lawmakers and consumer advocates contend that the regulatory overhaul falls short.
http://jlne.ws/ocgJuV

London Loses Out as Banks Consider Booking Trades Overseas
By Liam Vaughan, Bloomberg
Banks in Europe are exploring ways to cut costs by routing more of their trades and other business through overseas subsidiaries, a plan that may shift tax revenue away from London and loosen European regulators’ influence over the lenders.
http://jlne.ws/r5eHq9

J.P. Morgan Announces Successful Implementation of U.S. Tri-Party Repo Market Reforms
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
J.P. Morgan today announced the successful achievement of two major tri-party repo milestones: the implementation of three-way trade matching for US Tri-Party Repo dealers and cash investors on August 29, and the move of the daily unwind to 3:30 p.m. on August 22 in accordance with the previously-mandated Tri-Party Repo Market Infrastructure Reform Task Force deadline.
http://jlne.ws/poW7vL

Bidders setting their sights on Saxon
New York Post
A unit of hedge fund Fortress Investment Group and Ocwen Financial Corp. are among the bidders who are taking a shot at acquiring Morgan Stanley's mortgage servicing arm Saxon Mortgage Services, sources said.A sale of the mortgage unit, which Morgan Stanley acquired in 2006 during the height of...
http://jlne.ws/oNGN52

ISDA spent $505,000 lobbying in second quarter
AP via Yahoo! News
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, a trade group representing hundreds of banks and other companies, spent $505,000 in the second quarter to lobby the federal government and Congress on new rules putting the financial overhaul into effect and on regulatory legislation, a disclosure report shows.
http://jlne.ws/r8rfK0