Harold Maass of The Week The Best of Today's Business

Subprime lenders near the end

The subprime mortgage business took another hit as Accredited Home Lenders said it would have to find new financing after its creditors demanded more money to cover rising loan defaults. (Bloomberg) The nation's second largest lender to people with poor credit -- New Century Financial -- is scrambling to stay afloat after its banks cut off its financing. "Connect the dots and it looks like it's a bankruptcy filing," said analyst Chris Brendler of Stifel Nicolaus. (AP in Yahoo! Finance) The meltdown could deepen the housing slump by flooding the market with foreclosed homes and removing risky borrowers from the pool of buyers. "Every party has its hangover," said appraiser George Hatch. (Los Angeles Times, free registration required)

Citi ups the ante

Citigroup raised its offer for Nikko Cordial Corp. by 26 percent after the Tokyo Stock Exchange decided not to delist the Japanese brokerage firm over an accounting scandal. (AP in Yahoo! Finance) Nikko's four largest shareholders -- North American investment funds that together own 25 percent of the company -- rejected Citi's first bid, saying it undervalued Nikko by a third. And the news that Nikko would keep its listing had pushed its shares 10 percent above Citi's original offer price. Nikko's management has backed the deal, which would mark Citi's biggest Asian acquisition ever. (Reuters)

Asian stocks hit a wall

Asian markets fell today, ending a weeklong rally back from last month's global sell-off. The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index lost 0.5 percent after gaining 4.4 percent in the past week. It fell by 7 percent in the four previous days in a rout that erased $3.3 trillion in global stock value. Japanese stocks were weighed down by the strength of the yen against the dollar, which hurts exporters by eroding the value of U.S. sales. "We have to be careful about investment in U.S.-dependent exporters," said Takeshi Yamaguchi of Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co. "Exporters' earnings growth will be curbed in the coming business year." (Bloomberg)

Hedge funds grow up

The relatively new hedge fund industry has amassed $1.4 trillion in assets, but so far it hasn't spent much to bolster its power in Washington. From 1998 to 2006, the only 15 hedge funds that had registered their activity spent just $7.7 million lobbying Congress. But that's changing, as fund executives move to counter growing calls for increased regulation. Three hedge-fund lobbying groups have formed to push the common goal of opposing greater regulation. So far, said David Tittsworth of the Investment Adviser Association, "the hedge fund industry -- whoever they are and whoever is representing them -- has been successful in fighting a centralized and comprehensive regulatory scheme." (The New York Times, free registration required)

BEST COLUMNS OF THE DAY

More pain after the gains

Don't expect the market's bounce to last forever, says Mark Arbeter in BusinessWeek.com. "Once this short-term rally concludes," Standard & Poor's Equity Research sees market indexes falling back to test the lows they hit in the recent sell-off. "Volume is fuel for the market," and trading has been light in the days when stocks have rallied. That's a sign the rally will "run out of gas soon." So take advantage of the rebound to sell emerging market stocks.

Preparing for really, really old age

Science is helping people live longer, says Sonia Arrison in the Los Angeles Times (free registration required), but we won't be able to enjoy the extra years unless we prepare for them. "The expectations of Americans will have to change, starting with the outdated idea that one can retire at 65." Since most people don't save enough to live comfortably for a retirement that could last 30 years, we'll have to become "more flexible" as a culture so that retirement-age workers can continue to earn their keep. Making work schedules more flexible, providing job training for seniors, and offering better benefits for older employees would be a good first step.

GOOD DAY FOR: Sinking into debt, as Discover Financial is launching a credit card with rewards for customers who carry a balance. People who pay six consecutive Discover Motiva card bills on time will get their next month's interest back as a bonus. (AP in Yahoo! Finance)

BAD DAY FOR: Four-letter words, as the Nasdaq said it would begin accepting companies with fewer than four letters in their stock symbols. The change will make it a little easier for companies to move their listing to the Nasdaq from another exchange, potentially ratcheting up the competition between the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange. (USA Today)

NOTED: Wall Street banks are making a recruiting push that could push starting salaries for MBA graduates above last year's record levels. Harvard MBA graduates averaged a record $186,174 in total compensation last year. Stanford graduates got $183,000. (Bloomberg)