02 May 2005 09:25 AM

George Bush will have to pick a new Federal Reserve chief in the next nine months. The reputable Fed boss Alan Greenspan will retire in January 2006 from the post he has occupied since 1987. The main requirements for Greenspan’s successor will be appeal with the markets, reliability in the eyes of the analysts

29 Apr 2005 08:51 AM

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates by another quarter-point in its next meeting Tuesday, taking it from 2.75% from 3% in the eighth straight quarter-point rate increase. Fed officials see inflation as a greater threat to the nation than the slowdown in the economy. In the

28 Apr 2005 10:18 AM

Leading private-equity firms Carlyle Group, Texas Pacific Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. have received an unexpected offer from investment bankers from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that propose to take them public. Private-equity business has always been about the acquisition of a major or controlling stakes in private companies

27 Apr 2005 10:44 AM

Deutsche Bank AG takes the top place in the rankings of the largest foreign-exchange trading banks published in Euromoney magazine’s annual survey, ousting UBS AG from the leading position it occupied last year. Deutsche Bank’s market share stands at 16.7 percent, up from 12.2 percent last year. UBS has also increased

25 Apr 2005 09:39 AM

The two major exchanges, NYSE and Nasdaq, have both announced their purchases of electronic trading systems. The New York Stock Exchange will merge with Archipelago, and Nasdaq will buy the electronic trading platform of the Instinet Group. The deals are expected to bring in fresh spirit and new ideas into the once clubby business closed to outsiders.

19 Apr 2005 08:22 AM

A ’’soft patch’’ that is coming in the world’s economy may induce the US Federal Reserve to restrict its hikes, limiting them to only two or three more rises in the six meeting scheduled for this year, predicts Paul McCulley, a managing director at Pacific Investment Management Co. Pimco manages the largest bond fund in the world. McCulley forecasts the end-of-year Fed funds rate to stand

13 Apr 2005 07:25 AM

Minutes of the March 22 Federal Open Market Committee meeting were released yesterday, somewhat soothing concerns about the possible acceleration of rate hikes that had weighed on the market since the hawkish

12 Apr 2005 07:51 AM

A trial that will begin in a federal appeals court Friday will test whether the Securities and Exchange Commission exceeded its authority by limiting the eligibility to serve on mutual funds’ boards. The SEC regulation passed in June 2004 requires that 75% of directors be independent of the investment company in charge of the fund’s management. Previously this number was 40%. The commission’s ruling also stipulates that

11 Apr 2005 07:47 AM

Americans seem to be overconfident of their post-retirement future, shows the annual retirement confidence survey of the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute. Even though 65 percent of respondents said they were "very" or "somewhat confident" that their money supply after retirement will be sufficient, 20 percent of the

09 Apr 2005 10:06 AM

The debate on he feasibility of the new estate tax in the US is likely to end with the adoption of a compromise bill that would preserve the tax only for the most affluent citizens. Sen. Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.) is in discussions with Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) about the possibility of a compromise bill to be introduced this year. Republicans

08 Apr 2005 07:42 AM

US Congress is trying to take legislative action to force China to finally revalue its currency, a move that was resisted by th Chinese authorities for a long time. The bill introduced by Rep. Tim Ryan (D., Ohio) yesterday claims that exchange-rate manipulation is a prohibited export subsidy and calls for sanctions on Chinese exports. The day before, the Senate supported the plan to impose a 27.5% tariff on all Chinese products if the nation

07 Apr 2005 08:33 AM

The first quarter was not exactly stellar for mutual funds as Standard and Poor’s 500 lost 2.6%. This decline naturally most affected US stock funds that lost 2.5% on average, while international funds fared much better. MorningStar Inc. research shows that Foreign Small-Mid Growth funds had an average return of 3% in the first quarter

06 Apr 2005 07:46 AM

A surge in US business activity predictably led to an increase in average office rents that added 0.7% in the first quarter to land at $20.25 in comparison to $20.11 in the previous quarter, reports Reis Inc., a New York-based commercial real-estate research firm. Office rents posted the first increase since the first quarter of 2001, the start of one of the worst downturns in the history of the office market. The

05 Apr 2005 07:05 AM

The dollar gained reaching a five-month peak against the yen and the two-month high against the European currency on anticipation of a rise in yields on Treasury notes. "The dollar’s trend is clearly bullish as it’s no longer reacting to negative news," said Yoshiharu Yanagisawa, head

31 Mar 2005 09:23 AM

The seventh interest rate hike since last summer has just occurred, and even the long-term rates are beginning to absorb the increase. The impact on the consumer also begins to be felt, and some categories are going to be more hurt than others. Rates on fixed-rate mortgages are bound to rise, to finally remove Alan Greenspan’s confusion when he called