Personal Finance

Dow Chemical will close three Louisiana plants as the company shifts away from basic chemicals and more toward the lucrative business of specialty chemicals, the company said Wednesday Dow has said it will cut about 2,500 jobs as part of a restructuring that came with the acquisition of rival Rohm & Haas. About 100 jobs, part of that restructuring, will be cut with the closure of the plants, but most employees will be offered jobs elsewhere. The plants that will be closed make ethylene... Read Full Story

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee says that Congress will "substantially" increase the power of federal regulators to monitor derivatives, a type of financial instrument that contributed to the economic turmoil. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said at a hearing Friday that he cares less about which agency will be given the task than about making sure that it's done. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was testifying before the House committees on financial services and... Read Full Story

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is returning to work after spending a long holiday weekend in Florida with his wife and four boys. The Republican governor is attending a closed briefing on port security in North Charleston on Monday. Sanford is to attend the briefing with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (neh-pahl-ih-TAN'-oh) and Sen. Lindsey Graham on a task force to protect the nation's ports. But he will not attend a meeting with reporters after the briefing. Sanford spent... Read Full Story

GMAC Financial Services says it declared quarterly dividend payments on preferred stock issued to the federal government and to its own subsidiary, Preferred Blocker Inc. The dividends were declared on Monday and are payable on Aug. 17. Dividend payments declared on the preferred stock issued to the U.S. Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program totaled $271 million, while the dividend payment on Preferred Blocker's fixed rate perpetual preferred stock totaled $78.1 million... Read Full Story

The major indexes showed little change in pre-market trade Monday, as investors looked ahead to a busy week of corporate news. Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow industrials futures were all nearly even. This week brings a heavy slate of earnings reports, with a number of high-profile financials scheduled to release quarterly results. Big banks due to report include Goldman Sachs GS , JPMorgan Chase JPM , Bank of America BAC and Citigroup C . Also on this week's docket are Dow components Johnson... Read Full Story

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday raised the investment-grade ratings of Ventas Inc., citing steps the real estate investment trust has recently taken to shore up its capital position. The credit ratings agency upgraded its issuer default rating for Ventas and its subsidiaries to BBB from BBB-. The lower rating is Fitch's lowest investment-grade category before "junk" status. Fitch also raised ratings for three issues of Ventas' senior debt to BBB from BBB-. Those moves involve $867 million in... Read Full Story

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ten or more people associated with multibillion dollar swindler Bernard Madoff could face criminal charges in investigations in the coming months or beyond, a law enforcement source said on Tuesday. Disgraced financier Madoff, 71, was sentenced to 150 years imprisonment on Monday after he pleaded guilty in March to orchestrating a worldwide investment scheme of as much as $65 billion. "When all is said and done, the FBI thinks there is a good chance it will be able to... Read Full Story

  The Exploding Federal Deficit - by Donald Marron - has explanation of components ———— J.P. Morgan to Send Warrants to Market - By DEBORAH SOLOMON and ROBIN SIDEL - Several Wall Street firms seeking to buy back warrants held by the government as part of the $700 billion financial bailout are complaining that the Treasury Department is demanding too high a price, according to people familiar with the matter. …  J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive James Dimon raised the issue... Read Full Story

Stocks ho-hum in mid-afternoon NEW YORK, July 14 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks wavered between positive and negative territory Tuesday, despite Goldman Sachs Group's stronger-than-expected earnings reports. In mid-afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 8,333.79 points, up 2.11, or 0.03 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 posted a 1.74-point gain, or 0.19 percent, to 902.79 points, while the Nasdaq composite index posted a 0.19 percent gain, 3.41 points to 1,796.62. The so... Read Full Story

U.S. deficit hits $1 trillion for the year WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. budget deficit so far this fiscal year was pushed over the $1 trillion mark in June, the Treasury Department said Monday. The federal government took in $215.3 billion last month but spent $309.6 billion for another $94.3 billion in red ink that brought the year-to-date total to a record $1.08 trillion, MarketWatch reported. The government spent $189.7 billion more than it took in in May. A year ago... Read Full Story