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Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions - (www.nytimes.com) Faced with growing budget deficits and restive taxpayers, elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers, in collective bargaining and politics. State officials from both parties are wrestling with ways to curb the salaries and pensions of government employees, which typically make up a significant percentage of state budgets. On Wednesday, for example, New York’s new Democratic governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, is expected to call for a one-year salary freeze for state workers, a move that would save $200 million to $400 million and challenge labor’s traditional clout in Albany. But in some cases — mostly in states with Republican governors and Republican statehouse majorities — officials are seeking more far-reaching, structural changes that would weaken the bargaining power and political influence of unions, including private sector ones.
Bond Sales Fall 91% as Build America Program Ends: Muni Credit - (www.bloomberg.com) Municipal-debt issuance plunged 91 percent this week from a year earlier after federal initiatives such as the Build America Bonds program ended Dec. 31. States and local governments are poised to borrow about $628 million through Jan. 7, compared with $7.36 billion in debt sold in the first week of trading last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Since 2004, the first five days of each year’s trading has averaged about $2.84 billion in sales. Many issuers probably brought forward potential first- quarter 2011 sales to the last three months of 2010 to take advantage of the programs, said Alan Schankel, director of fixed-income research for Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, a Philadelphia-based money-management firm.
BofA Deal on Loan-Repurchase Demands Sets ‘Template’ for Banks - (www.bloomberg.com) Bank of America Corp.’s agreement to settle Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s demands it buy back billions of dollars in faulty loans may pave the way for U.S. lenders to resolve similar disputes with the government-sponsored entities, easing investors’ concerns that costs may surge. Bank of America’s announcement yesterday that it settled claims on at least $4.1 billion in loans from its Countrywide Financial Corp. unit sent the KBW Bank Index of 24 stocks up 2.3 percent to its highest level since May. A willingness by the GSEs to negotiate may let other lenders cap costs from mounting demands they buy back loans that allegedly had bad or incomplete information about borrowers’ incomes, home values or other data.
Cuomo Plans One-Year Freeze on State Workers’ Pay - (www.nytimes.com) Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will seek a one-year salary freeze for state workers as part of an emergency financial plan he will lay out in his State of the State address on Wednesday, senior administration officials said. The move will signal the opening of what is expected to be a grueling fight between the new governor and the public-sector unions that have traditionally dominated the state’s political establishment. It will also come days after the New Year’s Eve layoffs of more than 900 state workers, an event that union representatives marked with a candlelight vigil on the steps of the Capitol and outside government offices in five other cities.
Top lenders set for foreclosure settlement: report - (www.reuters.com) The five largest mortgage loan servicers, including Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co, may be the first to settle with 50 state attorneys general who are investigating foreclosure practices, Bloomberg reported, citing Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. The attorney-general group expects to reach five separate agreements with the five largest servicers, the news agency said, quoting Miller, who heads the multi-state probe. Miller could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours. The other three large servicers are Citigroup Inc, Wells Fargo & Co and Ally Financial Inc. The group has had at least one face-to-face meeting with representatives from all five of the largest banks
OTHER STORIES:
Some Fed Officials Had High Threshold to Alter QE2 - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. Factory Orders Unexpectedly Climbed in November - (www.bloomberg.com)
G.O.P. Sets Up Huge Target for Budget Ax - (www.nytimes.com)
GM, Ford, Chrysler U.S. December Sales Top Analysts’ Estimates - (www.bloomberg.com)
December U.S. retail sales: upswing's last hurrah? – (www.reuters.com)
Mining Firms Dig Deeper As Worker Costs Escalate – (www.online.wsj.com)
Wall Street Preparing $4 Billion of Commercial-Mortgage Bonds- (www.bloomberg.com)
Currency Carry Trade Losses May Bolster U.S. Dollar - (www.bloomberg.com)
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