BofA to Settle Mortgage Investors’ Class-Action
(NEW YORK) — Bank of America has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by investors who bought mortgage investments from Countrywide Financial, the California-based lender it acquired in 2008. The announcement came as the nation’s second biggest bank reported higher net income for the first quarter, but missed analysts’ expectations. Bank of America said Wednesday that it would pay $500 million to settle the lawsuit brought by the Maine State Retirement System and other pension funds who said Countrywide had misled them about the quality of the mortgages they bundled together and sold to investors before the crisis. The settlement is the latest reminder of the long fallout of Bank of America’s decision to buy Countrywide, which was known for making exotic loans. The purchase catapulted the bank into a spot at the top of the nation’s mortgage scene, but it’s been an albatross ever since, bringing lawsuits, regulatory investigations and quarterly losses. Bank of America ...
america
announcement
billion
bofa
california-based
charlotte
countrywide
decision
expectations
homeownership
investigation
investment
maine
management
million
nation
pension
quality
retirement
settlement
york
Cold March Keeps Shoppers’ Spending Tepid
NEW YORK — So much for new spring shorts and T-shirts. As cold weather lingered across most of the country, Americans shopped modestly in March. U.S. retailers reported a key revenue figure rose slightly during the month, as shoppers held back on spending because of the cold weather across the nation, particularly the Midwest and East Coast, and continued fears about the economy. Economists monitor consumer spending because it accounts for more than 70 percent of economic activity. According to a preliminary tally of 15 retailers by the International Council of Shopping Centers, revenue in stores open at least a year rose 1.6 percent, or 2.5 percent excluding drugstores. That was below expectations, said Michael Niemira, chief economist at the ICSC. Weather was a factor, with March being the coldest in seven years. The comparison with last March was especially tough. Last year saw the warmest March on record, according to weather research firm Planalytics Inc. “Wintry weather conditions ...
activity
american
americans
coast
conditions
council
decision
department
east
easter
economists
expectations
fashion
government
icsc
international
ken
labor
michael
midwest
movement
nation
niemira
perkins
planalytics
specialist
t-shirts
unemployment
york
Japan Central Bank Revamps Policy to Boost Economy
TOKYO — Japan is making a sweeping shift in its monetary policy, aiming to spur inflation and get the world’s third-largest economy out of a long, debilitating slump. Bowing to demands from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for more aggressive monetary easing, the Bank of Japan announced Thursday a policy overhaul intended to double the money supply and achieve a 2 percent inflation target at the “earliest possible time, with a time horizon of about two years.” BOJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda described the scale of monetary stimulus as “large beyond reason,” but said the inflation target would remain out of reach if the central bank stuck to incremental steps. “We’ll adjust without hesitation if need be, while monitoring economic and price conditions,” he said. The BOJ is joining the U.S. Federal Reserve and other major central banks in soaking the economy in money in hopes of getting corporations and consumers to begin spending more in a virtuous cycle that would put growth back ...
abe
announcement
boj
capital
conditions
corporation
credibility
decision
entities
expectations
federal reserve
gov
haruhiko
hesitation
inflation
japan
japanese
kuroda
mark
minister
nikkei
policy
prime
questions
shinzo
tokyo
williams
United States: U.S. Supreme Court Issues Two Important Securities-Law Opinions - Andrews Kurth LLP
The U.S. Supreme Court has recently issued a pair of important securities-law decisions, one requiring the SEC to act more swiftly in pursuing fraud charges, and the other making it significantly easier for private plaintiffs to pursue securities fraud claims on a class-wide basis.
andrews
court
decision
kurth llp
opinion
sec
securities
states
supreme
united
Found 1 month ago on channel
Mondaq
Currencies: Dollar extends gains against the Japanese yen
The U.S. dollar added to gains versus the yen in Asia as disappointment over the Bank of Japan’s recent policy decisions gave way to expectations for further monetary easing.
asia
currency
decision
disappointment
expectations
japan
japanese
policy