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NEWS AT A GLANCE

Warren Buffett ends the year dealing

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is launching a bond insurance firm today aimed at local governments, The Wall Street Journal reported. The insurer, Hathaway Assurance Corp., will initially start guaranteeing municipal bonds in New York State, backing public infrastructure projects. Several municipal bond insurers have been damaged by the subprime mortgage meltdown. (Reuters) Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway also agreed today to buy the reinsurance unit of Dutch financial services giant ING for about $440 million, capping a week of deals. (Bloomberg) On Tuesday, Buffett agreed to buy 60 percent of industrial group Marmon Holdings for $4.5 billion. (MarketWatch)

More losses seen at Citibank

Citibank shares dropped almost 3 percent yesterday after Goldman Sachs analysts said the bank would write off as much as $18.7 billion in the current quarter and cut its dividend by 40 percent. (AP in Yahoo! Finance) In November, Citigroup estimated its write-offs at up to $11 billion and said it had no plans to cut its dividend. But "anyone thinking that Citi is going to continue to pay 7.3 percent on their common shares indefinitely drank a little too much eggnog," said Jack Ablin at Harris Private Bank. (BusinessWeek.com) Goldman also said that J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch would write down billions more this quarter. (MarketWatch) CNBC reported that Merrill is cutting 1,600 jobs. (Reuters)

Warner joins the DRM-free party

Warner Music Group agreed to sell its entire catalog online through Amazon's digital music store, joining the growing ranks of music labels giving in to demand for online sales without digital rights management (DRM) copy protection. Sony BMG is the last major holdout. (The New York Times, free registration required) Apple CEO Steve Jobs, whose iTunes Store leads the music download market, called for an end to DRM last February. Warner was one of the labels that scoffed at the idea -- which is one reason they chose to sell through Amazon, says Inside Digital Media analyst Philip Leigh. "They don't want to admit to Apple right away that they were wrong," he said. (AP in BusinessWeek.com)

Projects aim for attractive projects

Public housing projects are getting nicer, as new and established architects design attractive and sustainable buildings for low-income residents. The privately built homes and apartments are a relatively new thing -- until the 1980s, almost all low-income housing was built by the government. But the new buildings' innovative designs are not only for their residents. Many cities now require some affordable housing in all new developments, and attractive buildings help avert outbreaks of NIMBYism. "It's very important for low-income housing to look better than the surrounding neighborhood," says Sharon Lee, whose nonprofit builds home in the Seattle area. (The Wall Street Journal)

BEST COLUMNS OF THE DAY

Lessons from Web 2.0, 2007

"Digital media took 2007 by storm," but the Web 2.0 tempest wasn't uniformly kind to the companies in its path, say Steve Cody and Sam Ford in The Christian Science Monitor. Dell came out looking good after it cleaned up its customer service act in response to crusading blogger Jeff Jarvis. But in the "ugly" category, KFC learned to fear viral Web video after rats hit a franchise, and Sony and Whole Foods both fell "victim to the perceived anonymity of the Web, throwing caution, and ethics, to the wind." Going forward, companies should understand three Web 2.0 rules: "Local is now global; transparency is essential; the road map is constantly changing through trial and error."

Was subprime the tip of an iceberg?

Subprime mortgages might not be all that different from "other lending in the days of easy money that prevailed until this summer," says Floyd Norris in The New York Times. The corporate loan market, which is "vastly larger than the subprime market," could be the next shoe to fall. Or not. We "learned what CDO, MBS and SIV stood for" in 2007, and a clue that we're in trouble would be if we now had to learn about CDSs (credit default swaps) and CLOs (collateralized loan obligations). "It was the greatest credit party in history," fueled by new "financial instruments that emphasized leverage over safety" -- we'll find out next year if we face a big "systemic" hangover.

GOOD DAY FOR: Procrastinators, after the IRS said that tax forms related to the Alternative Minimum Tax won't be ready until mid-February, due to late action by Congress. About 13.5 million taxpayers are affected; for those who habitually file before the April 15 tax deadline, that means no refunds until at least late February. (Los Angeles Times, free registration required)

BAD DAY FOR: Golden peacocks, as the promise of picketing writers is throwing into doubt NBC's Jan. 13 broadcast of the Golden Globes award ceremony. NBC stands to lose a lucrative night of ad revenues if the ceremony is not broadcast, but NBC Universal also leads the nominations this year, with 20 film and six TV show nominations. (The New York Times, free registration required)

NOTED: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 257 points, or 1.7 percent, today, its last trading day of 2007. The Nikkei shed 11.1 percent this year, in its first annual loss since 2002. U.S. economic woes contributed to the slide. "A pessimistic view is prevalent about the Nikkei," said economist Kenichiro Yoshida at Mizuho Research Institute. "Looking ahead to next year, we must keep our eyes on Wall Street." (AP in USA Today)

This column was written by Peter Weber of TheWeekDaily.com.