Some of the more interesting and important items for March 29th :
- Dollar boosted by Fed comments Currencies – MarketWatch – LONDON (MarketWatch) — The dollar remained lower versus most major rivals Tuesday, but trimmed losses after a Federal Reserve official said policy makers may not be able to wait until global crises are resolved to begin withdrawing its ultra-accommodative monetary policy.
- Dying Banks Kept Alive Among Secrets Fed Data Will Reveal – Bloomberg – U.S. regulators closed Chicago- based Park National Bank in October 2009 when it owed $345 million to one of the lowest-cost lenders in town: the Federal Reserve’s discount window. Park National had been a constant customer at the window for more than 18 months before it failed, records show.
- Kan Slams Tepco’s Tsunami Defenses, Offers Assurances Over Radiation Leaks – Bloomberg – Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s sea wall, designed to withstand a 5.5-meter (18-foot) wave, was breached by a surge estimated by the government to be almost three times higher following the magnitude-9 earthquake on March 11. Back-up diesel generators for cooling systems, which might have prevented the nuclear disaster, were positioned in a basement swamped by the wave.
- Fed Presidents Support Completion of Bond-Buying Program – Bloomberg – Two Federal Reserve regional bank presidents voiced support for the completion of the central bank’s $600 billion Treasury securities-purchase program through June, saying it’s too soon to remove stimulus from the economy.
- Disposable income falls as prices jump, data show Economic Report – MarketWatch – The personal consumption expenditure index, which Federal Reserve officials say is a more accurate gauge of inflation than the better-known consumer price index, increased 0.4% on the month, the largest monthly gain since July 2008. Read “Why spending data should hurt, not help, stocks.”
- Financials close lower; banks to talk settlement Financial Stocks – MarketWatch – Shares of U.S. financial firms closed lower on Monday after spending most of the day in positive territory, with NYSE Euronext and some major banks drawing most of the attention.
- Tokyo Electric Finds Plutonium in Soil Near Fukushima Plant – Bloomberg – Tokyo Electric Power Co. found plutonium in soil samples taken near the stricken Fukushima Dai- Ichi nuclear plant a week ago, the company said.
- Fatal Radiation Detected Outside Damaged Japanese Reactor – Bloomberg – Radiation levels that can prove fatal were detected outside reactor buildings at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant for the first time, complicating efforts to contain the worst disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.