PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Oct 10
Oct 10 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
* The partisan logjam showed signs of easing as conservatives warmed to the idea of a short-term increase in the country's borrowing limit and House GOP leaders prepared for a meeting with President Obama. ()
* Janet Yellen, if confirmed to lead the Federal Reserve, faces the difficult task of defining when the central bank will step back from the expansive monetary programs employed over the past six years to salve the crisis-racked economy. ()
* Marketers are finally convinced that there's money to be made advertising to the legions of consumers glued to their smartphones and tablets. Spending on mobile ads more than doubled in the first half of the year. ()
* Pimco held government-related holdings at the world's largest bond fund steady in September as the U.S. bond market's price rebounded last month. ()
* The market in which banks and other financial firms obtain short-term funding is becoming strained - the latest sign of rising investor anxiety over the debt battle. ()
* Meredith Whitney, one of Wall Street's best-known and most controversial research analysts, is getting out of the research business, following the departure of numerous clients and employees. Whitney is closing the research part of her firm after four years and next month plans to start a hedge fund, according to her attorney, Stanley Arkin. ()
* A premature exit by the U.S. Federal Reserve from its easy money policies could cause $2.3 trillion in global bond portfolio losses, the International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday. ()
* About 20 percent of the people who were warned over a two-year period that they might be sued by U.S. regulators for allegedly violating securities law ended up not facing charges, government figures show. The previously undisclosed numbers track the Securities and Exchange Commission's use of a powerful enforcement tool - called a Wells notice - to alert people that the agency might take enforcement action. ()
* The investor retreat from the once lucrative currency trading arena passed a milestone Wednesday with the closure of a firm that once was the largest of its sort, FX Concepts. The New York firm, whose assets under management shriveled to $660 million last month, from $14 billion at the dawn of the financial crisis, will close its asset-management business over the next few weeks and return money to investors, the company said in a statement. ()
* Several of the world's largest banks have scoured through emails and other electronic communications of employees in response to probes by European regulators into suspected manipulation of foreign-exchange markets, according to people familiar with the matter. ()
* Hedge fund Barington Capital Group LP, along with other investors, has taken a 2.8 percent stake in Darden Restaurants Inc, the owner of Olive Garden, Red Lobster and six other restaurant chains. The fund is pushing for Darden to form two separate companies, among other changes, according to people familiar with the matter. ()
