Wall Street Folly

Ben S. Bernanke’s confirmation for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman appeared to be back on track Monday, as more senators indicated that they will support him when a vote is held in the days ahead…..

Probe into NY Fed over AIG disclosure – Financial Times

The New York Federal Reserve is being investigated by Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the troubled assets relief programme, over its disclosure of documents relating to the bail-out of AIG and its counterparties.

In a statement submitted to the House oversight committee, Mr Barofsky said his team is examining whether the New York Fed improperly withheld information about the AIG bail-out from the Securities and Exchange Commission and his office…..

The Securities and Exchange Commission wants Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam and other defendants in a civil insider-trading case to turn over wiretap materials they have received from prosecutors in their criminal cases….

However, lawyers for Mr. Rajaratnam and Ms. Chiesi in separate letters made public on Monday said the SEC’s motion should be denied.

“Mr. Rajaratnam’s constitutional right to defend himself in [the criminal] case does not create an independent discovery right by the SEC in its civil action,” wrote Terence J. Lynam, one of Mr. Rajaratnam’s lawyers. “Mr. Rajaratnam, in fact, expects the wiretap material to be suppressed in the criminal case and thus unavailable as a matter of law in both cases. Surely the price of exercising his constitutional right to defend himself is not that he forfeits his own privacy rights under the Constitution.”….

Barclays PLC (BCS) has little to fear from U.S. President Barack Obama’s plans to curb some of banks’ trading and investment activities, Chief Executive John Varley told staff in an internal memo Monday….

Regarding the possible impact of the Obama proposals, Varley told staff that proprietary trading within its investment bank accounts for less than 3% of total revenues, that it sold its hedge fund business last year as part of the sale of Barclays Global Investors to Blackrock Inc. (BLK) and that it’s private equity business “is small.”….

Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross said he and partners including developer Richard LeFrak may consider buying the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village apartment development after its owners cede control to lenders.

“We are not really capital-constrained, so we can put up whatever is needed,” Ross, 72, said in a telephone interview. “We’re prepared to go all the way.”….

The price of protection against company defaults rose to a five-week high in Europe and increased in Asia after Standard & Poor’s said it may cut Japan’s credit rating and Chinese banks started to restrict new loans.

Credit-default swaps on European companies with high-yield ratings rose to the highest level since Dec. 18, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co., while contracts on Chinese government debt climbed to the highest since Nov. 27. The increased cost of insurance shows greater investor concern companies and governments will have trouble paying their debts, even as the U.S. and European economies emerge from recession….

National Retail Federation Forecasts 2010 Sales Will Rise 2.5% – Bloomberg

U.S. retail sales will rise 2.5 percent this year as the housing and job markets stabilize, the National Retail Federation predicted.

Economic improvement, including stronger exports, will buoy consumer confidence and spending, the Washington trade group said today in a statement. Sales fell 2.5 percent in 2009…..

Tags: AIG, Barclays, Ben Bernanke, CDS, Fed, Forecloseures; Retailers, Galleon, Insider Trading, Neil Barofsky, Raj Rajaratnam, Real Estate, Wilbur Ross