The Other Side of Life 24/7: Daily Investor Briefing: Wall Street ends up on Bernanke...

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Daily Investor Briefing: Wall Street ends up on Bernanke...

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02/26/2013

Reuters Election 2012 Daily round-up of the day's top news from the campaign trail, the White House and all the politics in between

Wall Street ends up on Bernanke comments, housing

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks ended higher on Tuesday, rebounding from their worst decline since November, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended the Fed's bond-buying stimulus and sales of new homes hit a 4 1-2-year high.

Bernanke says Fed stimulus benefits clear, downplays risks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke strongly defended the U.S. central bank's monetary stimulus before Congress on Tuesday, easing financial market worries over a possible early retreat from bond buys.

Schwab may apply class-action victory to pending cases

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Charles Schwab Corp will likely seek dismissal of pending class-action cases after a regulator on Thursday upheld its right to bar clients from bringing such lawsuits, the company said.

Analysis: Jumbo mortgages are back, but at far from 2007 levels

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home sales and prices are rising briskly in those neighborhoods where the well-heeled like to plant their mailboxes: along Chicago's north shore, in the San Francisco Bay area and in the haute Hamptons.

Best Buy takeover attempt by founder in jeopardy: sources

(Reuters) - Best Buy Co Inc founder Richard Schulze's effort to take the company private is in trouble after attempts to secure financing faltered while an alternative strategy to line up minority investors may not pan out either, five sources familiar with the matter said.

Home prices cap year with biggest rise since 2006

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home prices closed out 2012 with the biggest annual gain in more than six years while sales of new homes spiked in January, the latest sign that the long-suffering housing market was on the mend, data showed on Tuesday.

Four Spanish lenders set to pass properties to bad bank

MADRID (Reuters) - Four mid-sized Spanish banks are poised to transfer 14 billion euros ($18.30 billion) of soured property assets to a government-backed "bad bank", which on Tuesday issued bonds to give to the banks as payment and completed a capital hike.

First spill trial witness: BP put cost cuts over safety

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - BP Plc fostered a culture that put cost-cutting over safety before the deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a noted forensic engineer said in the first day of testimony in the federal civil trial centered on the disaster.

February auto sales data expected to show sustained recovery

DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. auto sales in February were expected to show a fourth straight month of seasonally adjusted annualized sales above 15 million vehicles for the first time since early 2008, a sign of a sustained recovery after the recession.

Wall Street cash bonuses rose in 2012: NY comptroller

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street cash bonuses rose in 2012 but were still below pre-crisis levels, and the industry is gearing up for more layoffs as it continues to adapt to more regulation and heightened competition, New York's top financial official said.