The Other Side of Life 24/7: Daily Investor Briefing: Optimism about "cliff" boost market;...

Monday, December 17, 2012

Daily Investor Briefing: Optimism about "cliff" boost market;...

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12/17/2012

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

Optimism about "cliff" boost market; financials lead

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended at its highest level in almost two months on Monday on rising hopes that negotiations over the "fiscal cliff" were making progress and that a deal could be reached in days.

Hopes rise for "fiscal cliff" deal as Obama, Boehner meet

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and top Republican John Boehner met at the White House on Monday as hopes rose that Washington will be able to head off steep tax hikes and spending cuts that could push the economy into recession next year.

U.S. agency sues JPMorgan over mortgage securities

(Reuters) - The U.S. credit union regulator sued JPMorgan Securities and Bear Stearns & Co on Monday over $3.6 billion in mortgage securities the bank allegedly sold to credit unions that collapsed because of losses from the securities.

Clearwire investors unlikely to get higher Sprint bid

(Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp's $2.2 billion offer for Clearwire Corp is likely to face resistance from Clearwire's minority shareholders, but accepting the offer may prove to be their best option.

U.S. could wrap up Google probe this week: sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators this week could drop their investigation of how Google ranks certain searches, without requiring any major changes in how the online giant does business, according to two people knowledgeable about the investigation.

Watershed meeting for Bank of Japan this week after Abe's win

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's central bank gets its first chance this week to respond to the challenge laid down by Shinzo Abe following his party's landslide victory in a general election on Sunday. Investors are already betting it will flinch.

Massachusetts fines Morgan Stanley over Facebook research

BOSTON (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter for Facebook Inc's initial public offering, will pay a $5 million fine to Massachusetts to settle charges that its bankers improperly influenced its research analysts when the Internet company went public.

Analysis: China subway boom spotlights investment risks

NANCHANG, China (Reuters) - In the Chinese city of Nanchang, where the local government is building a new subway network, the modern train station rising out of the red earth sits in an empty part of town. The crowds that Nanchang envisions will someday use its metro are nowhere in sight.

UBS faces $1.5 billion day of reckoning over rate rigging

ZURICH/LONDON (Reuters) - UBS AG will pay around $1.5 billion to settle charges that a group of traders at its Japanese unit rigged Libor interest rates, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday as the Swiss bank prepares for a deal with regulators.

Sun Life sells U.S. annuity business, shares drop

TORONTO (Reuters) - Sun Life Financial Inc will sell its U.S. annuity business for $1.35 billion to a firm connected to Guggenheim Partners in a deal that should reduce the exposure of the insurer's earnings to market swings and boost its cash levels.