Squeezed by rising bank failures and alarmed by its shrinking insurance fund, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has made it easier for private-equity investors to buy failed institutions, but one prominent analyst believes that the move could lead to even more shuttered banks.
New U.S. home sales surged 9.6 percent in July, rising for the fourth straight month and beating expectations as the housing market marches steadily back from its historic downturn.
Home prices across most of the U.S. have started to rise from the depths of the housing slump, a pivotal trend that will help stabilize the broader economy, according to new figures released today.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission inserted themselves into the debate surrounding controversial, non-traditional exchange traded funds last week — a debate that could harm the entire ETF sector, according to some industry insiders.
A key federal regulator is asking lawmakers to tighten legislation imposing broad new oversight on derivatives by going beyond the Obama administration's proposal in several areas governing the complex financial instruments blamed for hastening the global economic crisis.
Construction of single-family U.S. homes rose 1.7 percent in July, the fifth-straight monthly increase as builders poured foundations at the fastest pace since last October, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.
The National Association of Home Builders said Monday its housing market index rose in August to the highest point in more than a year, as homebuyers hurried to take advantage of a federal tax credit before it expires.
The Department of the Treasury last Tuesday sent to Capitol Hill the final piece of its financial regulatory reform legislation, a 115-page bill aimed at reforming regulation of over-the-counter derivatives.
After gaining an average of 13.9% last year, managed-futures funds have come back down to earth this year as their managers sit with cash and look for signs of a discernable market trend.
An American Bar Association task force studying mutual funds' use of derivatives will likely recommend measures to ensure that investors and fund directors are better-informed about the risks associated with the use of the complex financial instruments.
Tremont Group Holdings Inc., which lost more than $3 billion in the Bernard Madoff scam, will auction off its remaining hedge fund assets in an attempt to pay its investors, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Foreclosure filings were up 32 percent from the same month last year, RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday. More than 360,000 households, or one in every 355 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice.
Atticus Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund shop, is returning $3 billion to investors as the company founder opts out of the hedge fund business, according to a letter sent to shareholders yesterday.
Hedge funds lagged the equity markets in July, as many of these alternative asset class managers now appear to be proceeding with caution after several consecutive months of strong gains.
The residential-real-estate market, after virtually falling off a cliff from its apex of a few years ago, is being buoyed by a recent string of positive sales data.
There's good news and bad news for REITs. The bad news is that real estate stocks tend to be late-stage cyclicals, so analysts don't expect much of a rebound until next year.
The bloom is off the rose in terms of Americans' attitude toward homeownership, according to a survey from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.
In the wake of the historic real estate meltdown, it is easy to make a case for investing in non-traded real estate investment trusts.
The REIT industry is in the throes of a debate over how much debt is appropriate.
