Andrew Ackerman

Groundbreaking for new U.S. home construction dropped 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 575,000 in February as building permits decreased by 1.6% to 612,000, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.

WASHINGTON - Groundbreaking for new U.S. home construction dropped 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 575,000 in February, as building permits decreased by 1.6% to 612,000, the Commerce Department reported today.

WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd yesterday introduced a massive, reworked financial regulatory reform bill that would require the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s municipal securities office to report directly to the SEC chairman, significantly raising the profile of the muni market.

WASHINGTON — A second former employee of CDR Financial Products Inc., Matthew Adam Rothman, has pleaded guilty to participating in bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies with other firms that provided investment agreements to states and localities, the Justice Department announced late Thursday.

WASHINGTON — Despite a round of aggressive lobbying by non-dealer financial advisers and former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt, the municipal market section of the massive financial regulatory bill that Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd is expected to release Monday is not likely to be much different than the original draft floated late last year.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board today is expected to file long-awaited rule changes with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would implement the final phase of its transparency system for auction-rate securities and variable-rate demand obligations.

A Securities and Exchange Commissioner, who caused a furor among issuers last fall by calling for the repeal of the Tower Amendment and securities law exemptions for municipal securities issues, has begun meeting with them to get their views on what actions the SEC should take.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday that it has reached a $1.95 million settlement with First Allied Securities Inc. for failing to supervise one of its former brokers who engaged in unauthorized, fraudulent trading in the accounts of two Florida municipalities.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board yesterday announced two enhancements to the muni securities trading data available on its Electronic Municipal Market Access site.

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices yesterday signaled they have concerns about the “honest-services fraud” statute used to convict former Enron Corp. chief executive officer Jeffrey Skilling, but were unclear if they would grant his request that they declare it unconstitutionally broad and vague.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Friday released a video tutorial for muni issuers and others who submit continuing disclosure documents to its EMMA site.

Gross domestic product increased at a 5.9% annualized rate in the fourth quarter of 2009, surpassing economists’ estimates as well as an earlier 5.7% advance estimate made last month, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

WASHINGTON – Gross domestic product increased at a 5.9% annualized rate in the fourth quarter of 2009, surpassing economists’ estimates as well as an earlier 5.7% advance estimate made last month, the Commerce Department reported this morning.

WASHINGTON — Three market groups are moving forward with plans to collaborate on new guidelines to improve the quality of derivatives disclosure and the more timely release of financial information.

Durable goods orders jumped 3.0% in January to $175.7 billion, far surpassing economists’ expectations in the second straight monthly increase, data released yesterday by the Commerce Department showed.

WASHINGTON - Durable goods orders jumped 3.0% in January to $175.7 billion, data released this morning by the Commerce Department showed, far surpassing economists’ expectations and the second straight monthly increase.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced Wednesday that Daniel Naeh, a former CDR Financial Products Inc. employee living in Israel, pleaded guilty Tuesday for his participation in bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies related to guaranteed investment contracts and other municipal finance agreements.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced Wednesday afternoon that Daniel Naeh, a former CDR Financial Products Inc. employee who is living in Israel, pleaded guilty Tuesday for his participation in bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies related to contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other muni contracts.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission formally released a series of final changes to its Rule 2a-7 on money market funds Tuesday aimed at boosting the resilience of funds during market crises, and set a March 5 effective date for them.

Peter Roberson has left his position as a senior policy adviser to the House Financial Services Committee to become vice president of government relations at IntercontinentalExchange Inc., which operates futures and over-the-counter derivatives exchanges and clearinghouses.