China banks turn down German Dresdner deal

NEW YORK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - China’s major financial institutions, including its sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC), poured cold water on the idea of the possible purchase of Allianz’s (ALVG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) Dresdner, citing investment risk and political problems as major concerns, Chinese bankers told Reuters on Thursday.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS: […]

Fixit: Register with DMA to curtail junk mail

Q Can I stop getting all those catalogs and credit card offers in the mail?
A You can reduce them by registering with Direct Marketing Association to have your name removed from their mailing lists. To do that:
%26bull; Register online at www.dmachoice.org. Click on Remove My Name From Those Lists in the left-side menu. Although […]

Proposed financial overhaul puts Fed in charge of market stability; no fix for present woes

WASHINGTON
- It’s a Herculean task: revamping a financial regulatory system dating back to the Civil War to deal with 21st century crises imperiling the country.Under an ambitious Bush administration plan, the Federal Reserve would take on the unwieldy role of uber cop in charge of financial market […]

Obama: $30 billion stimulus plan

Speaking to a Wall Street audience, Obama proposed expanding government authority over financial institutions and spending $30 billion on a new stimulus package. His plan would also extend unemployment insurance for those who have lost their jobs. The American economy does not stand still, and neither should the rules that govern it, he said in […]

Investment firms tap Fed for billions to secure emergency loans, central bank reports

WASHINGTON
- Big Wall Street investment companies have jumped all over the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented offer to obtain emergency loans, borrowing more than doubled than in the program’s debut week.Those firms averaged $32.9 billion in daily borrowing over the past week from the new lending program, compared with […]

Credit Squeeze Is Still in `Early Days, Watsa Says

The credit squeeze thats led to
$146 billion in writedowns for global banks wont end any time
soon, said Prem Watsa, whose Canadian insurance company posted
record earnings last year by betting against financial firms.
Its still early days, said Watsa, who heads Fairfax
Financial Holdings Ltd. […]

Lloyds TSB Profit Rises 10%, Helped by Consumer Loans

Lloyds TSB Group Plc, the biggest U.K.
provider of personal loans, said second-half profit increased 10
percent, helped by mortgage lending, asset sales and cost controls.
The bank gained 4.8 percent in London trading after saying
net income in the six months ended Dec. 31 rose […]

Goldman Hires Pulitzer-Winning Journalist to Snare Millionaires

The conference started with a
cookout at the Mandarin Oriental hotel on Elbow Beach in Bermuda
and ended with a talk by 23-year-old Lauren Bush, an anti-hunger
activist, former model and niece to President George W. Bush. In
between, executives at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. taught scions of
wealthy families how to invest in hedge funds. […]

Japan Stocks: Goodwill, Inpex, Osaka Exchange, Pioneer, Sharp

Japans Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose
228.83, or 1.7 percent, to 13,729.29 as of 9:30 a.m. in Tokyo. The
following are among the most active stocks in the Japanese market
today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.
Holon Co. (7748 JQ) gained 1,400 yen, […]

Berkshires Net Falls 18% on Lower Insurance Prices

Billionaire investor Warren
Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said fourth-quarter profit
fell 18 percent on declining insurance rates.
Net income decreased to $2.95 billion, or $1,904 a share,
from $3.58 billion, or $2,323, a year earlier, the Omaha,
Nebraska-based company said today in a statement. Berkshire
typically gets about […]