Andrew Ackerman

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.

Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., is expected to unveil a revised financial regulatory reform bill by the end of the week, but it is not expected to include any changes to the municipal market-related provisions floated in the original version in November.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Bond attorneys raised concerns last week that a Securities and Exchange Commission proposal to expedite the filing of continuing disclosure event notices, coupled with the lack of a requirement to make materiality determinations for certain notices, could pose undue burdens on issuers.

Issuer and investor groups are working together on a voluntary framework for improved disclosure of municipal swaps and financial information, a move they say reflects unprecedented cooperation between the two market groups, which historically have not been able to reach much consensus on the need for disclosure changes.

U.S. import prices jumped 1.4% in January, as both fuel and non-fuel prices rose, the Labor Department reported yesterday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined five firms a total of $113,000 for municipal and other trade-reporting violations. Seattle-Northwest Securities Corp. received the largest fine for muni bond rule violations: $13,000 for failing to timely report certain information from 200 municipal transactions.

WASHINGTON — U.S. import prices jumped 1.4% in January, as both fuel and nonfuel prices rose, the Labor Department reported today.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission is defending its antifraud authority over certain interest-rate swaps and urging a federal judge not to dismiss its suit against two former JPMorgan bankers for allegedly making more than $8 million in undisclosed payments to secure swaps for the firm with Jefferson County, Ala.

WASHINGTON — The Regional Bond Dealers Association announced Wednesday that it has tapped William Daly, the seasoned federal affairs director for New York City, as its senior vice president for government relations. He will start working for the group in early March.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s net assets fell to $26.39 million for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2009, down $1.65 million from the previous year as new underwriting assessment fees fell dramatically, according to an audited financial statement and annual report expected to be released by the board today.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission wants to hire outside municipal market experts, including traders and investment bankers, to work in its reconstituted municipal and public pension fund enforcement unit, Elaine Greenberg said Friday.

Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd, who said Friday he plans to move forward with a massive financial regulatory reform bill without Republican support, told federal regulators that he wants the bill to include language that would give the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board oversight of pension fund placement agents.

WASHINGTON — The National Association of Bond Lawyers yesterday joined the growing chorus of muni market groups pushing for an extension beyond the end of 2010 of two provisions in last year’s $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allowing banks to purchase tax-exempt bonds from issuers that otherwise might not have access to the market.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday announced that William Hicks, who worked on a key muni case, has been named associate regional director of enforcement for the Atlanta regional office and that Rhea Kemble Dignam has been named director of the office.

Issuer groups pushing for the Senate Banking Committee to add language in financial regulatory reform legislation mandating that municipal securities be rated on the same scale as other kinds of debt are getting a boost from an unlikely source: the Service Employees International Union, one of the largest labor unions in the country.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has made some key additions to its senior management, hiring Amy Schabacker Dufrane as its chief administrative and human resources officer and promoting Al Morisato as its chief information officer.