Bernankes out-of-the box thinking during the 2008 financial crisis helped prevent the Great Recession from turning into the second Great Depression. Now, however, the Fed chief faces the delicate task of making sure the recovery lasts well after massive government stimulus fades later this year.
To foster the recovery, Bernanke and other Fed officials have repeatedly pledged to hold interest rates at record lows for an “extended period.” The hope is that low rates will entice people and businesses to spend more, generating enough economic activity to help keep the recovery going.
But Bernanke is likely to warn again that the pace - - - - >

A report released Thursday by SEC inspector general David Kotz examines the bounty program in the wake of the SECs colossal breakdown that allowed Bernard Madoffs multibillion-dollar fraud to go undetected for 16 years - despite abundant red flags raised by whistleblowers.
The review by Kotzs office found there have been very few payments made under the program, which is limited to insider trading cases. Only a total $159,537 has been paid to five people since the program began in 1989.
Few applications for bounties have come in over the same 20-year period for a little-known program, the report said.
The report also - - - - >

Bernanke, in a speech to the Independent Community Bankers of Americas meeting in Orlando, Fla., argued against a Senate proposal that would scale back the Feds banking duties.
Close connections with community banks give the Fed a better understanding of the nations financial risks, including problems in commercial real-estate and small-business lending, according to Bernankes prepared remarks.
A Senate bill to overhaul financial regulation would strip the Fed of its power to supervise state-chartered banks and bank holding companies with assets of less than $50 billion. That would leave the Fed overseeing only 35 big bank holding companies. The legislation, written by - - - - >

The FDIC was unable to find buyers for two banks — Centennial Bank in Ogden, Utah, and Waterfield Bank of Germantown, Maryland — according to statements posted on the agencys Web site. In the largest of yesterdays failures by assets, Boca Raton, Florida-based Sun American Bank was purchased by First-Citizens Bank & Trust Co.
“South Florida is a great market for our company, especially with our focus on individuals, small- to mid-sized businesses and the medical community,” Frank B. Holding Jr., chief executive officer of First-Citizens, said - - - - >

Oil increased 1.6 percent after the Labor Department reported that payrolls dropped 36,000 last month. The total was forecast to fall by 68,000, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. U.S. fuel use, averaged over the past four weeks, was 3 percent higher than a year earlier, an Energy Department report showed on March 3.
“We had a nice spike up on the jobless report,” said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
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OneWest Bank purchased La Jolla Banks $3.6 billion in assets, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which was named receiver. Banks in Florida, Texas and Illinois also collapsed yesterday, for a total cost to the agencys deposit- insurance fund of almost $1.1 billion, the FDIC said in statements on its Web site.
Pasadena, California-based OneWest, led by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Steven Mnuchin, assumed most operations of First Federal Bank of California in December last year. In yesterdays transaction, OneWest assumed $2.8 billion in - - - - >

Central bankers are planning to eventually remove $1.43 trillion of housing debt from the balance sheet after critics such as Stanford University economist John Taylor accused them of straying beyond monetary policy. Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said yesterday that the Feds purchases of housing debt expose it to demands from politicians to support other industries.
Some of the Feds emergency actions “blurred the line between monetary policy and fiscal policy, thereby increasing the risk to the Feds independence,” Plosser said in a speech. “These policies have - - - - >

The purchase may be announced as early as today, said the people yesterday, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc was forced to sell its stake in Sempra by the European Union after receiving a 45.5 billion-pound ($71 billion) taxpayer-funded bailout.
JPMorgan is continuing discussions with RBS and Sempra about acquiring the North American operations of the commodities and energy trader, one of the people said. Representatives for Edinburgh-based RBS, JPMorgan and Sempra declined to comment. - - - - >

As much as 95 percent will be paid in stock vesting over about three years, the person said. Those receiving the smallest bonuses will get about half their compensation in cash, paid later this month, the person said. The unit accounts for 10,000 people, or 4 percent of the banks 283,000 workers.
Bank of America, the target of political wrath for its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. even as the faltering Wall Street firm handed out $3.6 billion of employee bonuses, reaped a $6.3 billion profit - - - - >

First Citizens acquired First Regional Bank of Los Angeles, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in a statement on its Web site. Six lenders with total assets of $5.53 billion failed, according to the FDIC.
“This is a perfect extension for our company,” Barbara Thompson, a spokeswoman for First Citizens, said in a phone interview from Raleigh, North Carolina. Southern California “is an area we have been in with our subsidiary bank and we see a lot of potential in that market.”
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