Patrice Hill

Goldman executives dispute accusations about trading

Goldman Sachs executives on Tuesday resisted attempts by a Senate investigative subcommittee to use the storied Wall Street firm as "Exhibit A" in the Democrats' drive to enact a sweeping reform of Wall Street practices.

April 27, 2010

Treasury has profited from big bank bailouts

At a time when both parties are competing to crack down the hardest on Wall Street banks, it might come as a surprise to know that the Treasury has been making a tidy profit on most of the government's Wall Street rescue operations.

April 27, 2010

Greece’s spiraling debt shakes Europe

Greece's debt crisis again sent shock waves through global markets Thursday, pushing the nation closer to a rescue by the European Union and IMF.

April 23, 2010

Dodd pushes to get bill on derivatives to floor

Senate Democrats on Wednesday resumed their drive to enact sweeping changes in the nation's financial system even as they met behind the scenes with Republicans to try to forge a bipartisan bill.

April 22, 2010

GOP resists finance bill push

The Senate's 41 Republicans held firm Monday against White House attempts to peel off one vote and ram through a partisan financial reform bill in a Senate floor vote expected at the end of the week.

April 20, 2010

Big banks: Too big for Congress to handle?

Many analysts question whether the reforms of either Republicans or Democrats would do the job while the surest way to prevent future bailouts — breaking up the "too big to fail" banks — is not an option in Congress.

April 19, 2010

Raising taxes on rich unlikely to cut deficit

Taxing wealthier people is back in style with Democrats in the White House and Congress, but the government's fiscal house is in such disarray that even that path will prove to be no cure-all for the nation's $1 trillion budget deficits.

April 15, 2010

Dow’s rise above 11,000 lifts hopes

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday sauntered back over 11,000 for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, culminating one of the stock market's most dramatic rallies ever with gains of 70 percent in the past year.

April 13, 2010

Greek debt crisis flares anew

The renewed crisis makes it likelier that Greece will need a bailout from the EU within weeks, analysts said, posing the first major test of the trading bloc's resolve to maintain unity in the face of immense fiscal problems.

April 9, 2010

Greenspan deflects blame for crisis

The former Federal Reserve chairman testified that the mortgage giants played a critical role in fostering an explosion of growth in the subprime-mortgage market that led to the global financial crisis.

April 8, 2010

Greenspan deflects blame for crisis

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Wednesday testified that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played a critical role in fostering an explosion of growth in the subprime mortgage market that led to the global financial crisis.

April 7, 2010

Greenspan says Fannie, Freddie central in crisis

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Wednesday testified that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played a critical role in fostering an explosion of growth in the subprime mortgage market that led to the global financial crisis.

April 7, 2010

Trickle of new jobs creates hope

The economic recovery shifted into a higher gear in recent months as businesses started creating a trickle of new jobs, spurring optimism that the days of double-digit unemployment levels of 10 percent and more are over.

April 5, 2010

Jobless rate stays at 9.7%; 162,000 jobs added

The economy last month started to create jobs again for the first time since the Great Recession took hold in 2007 in the clearest sign yet that the recovery is gathering strength, the Labor Department reported Friday morning.

April 2, 2010

Health plan may hobble economy recovery

President Obama's health insurance mandate on businesses poses an obstacle to his overarching goal of creating jobs and could end up adding to spiraling medical costs rather than controlling them.

April 1, 2010

Fed’s regulatory powers likely to be expanded

One thing now seems certain to come out of Congress' plodding financial reform effort: The Federal Reserve, after being castigated for much of the past year for overlooking major problems that led to the global financial crisis, will receive more power to try to prevent such crises in the future.

March 23, 2010

Dodd introduces financial reform legislation

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd introduced a far-reaching bill Monday that incorporated some compromises with committee Republicans on dealing with "too big to fail" institutions and other areas.

March 16, 2010

Obama urges China to cut currency link

Mr. Obama on Thursday reminded the Asian giant that it pledged last year at the Group of 20 economic summit to pare its lopsided trade surplus with the U.S.

March 12, 2010

Greek leader seeks U.S. help

Top political leaders said on Tuesday that they were sympathetic to demands from Greece's prime minister for a crackdown on speculators who have been plaguing European financial markets.

March 10, 2010

Greek crisis poses challenge to euro

The Greek debt crisis has become the biggest test not only of the European Union, but of its fledgling currency, the euro, which until recently had been enjoying newfound status as a reserve currency second only to the U.S. dollar.

March 8, 2010