Andrew Ackerman

Durable goods orders increased 0.3% in December, according to data released yesterday by the Commerce Department. Even though the headline figure was the sector’s first increase in the past three months, it still came in far below economists’ expectations.

WASHINGTON - Durable goods orders increased 0.3% in December, data released this morning by the Commerce Department showed. Though the headline figure was the first increase in the past three months, it was far below economists’ expectations.

WASHINGTON – The Securities and Exchange Commission this morning was set to vote on a series of proposed changes to its rule 2a-7 on money market funds designed to boost fund disclosures and liquidity.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board today will begin soliciting a broad range of nominees to serve on its board amid signs that Congress is likely to soon require the self-regulator to alter its composition so that a majority of its 15 members are “public” officials.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers yesterday released a long-awaited advisory on the federal securities law issues that arise when stripping tax credits from underlying taxable municipal bonds.

Dan Gallagher, deputy director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s trading and markets division, plans to leave at the end of the week to become a partner at WilmerHale here.

WASHINGTON — North Carolina securities regulators plan this week to begin work on a centralized auction-rate securities research center that will collect progress reports on how Wall Street and other dealer firms are fulfilling the “best effort” commitments they made to provide liquidity to institutional investors still holding illiquid ARS.

WASHINGTON — Municipal securities dealers, their finance professionals, and political action committees will have to disclose most contributions they make to bond ballot election campaigns under Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rule changes the Securities and Exchange Commission approved Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — Market participants worried yesterday that the Obama administration’s plan to limit the size and certain trading activities of banks could adversely affect firms’ tender option bond programs, which provide money market funds with safe municipal investments.

Groundbreaking for new U.S. home construction was down 4.0% in December to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 557,000, while private housing permits rose 10.9% to a rate of 653,000, according to Commerce Department data released yesterday.

WASHINGTON — In a new challenge to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement jurisdiction over certain swaps, attorneys for two former JPMorgan bankers that secured swap transactions for the firm with Jefferson County, Ala., are urging a federal judge to throw out most of the securities fraud charges the SEC filed against them in November.

Fredric D. Firestone, an associate director of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission who spearheaded the SEC’s auction-rate securities investigations, will leave at the end February to become a partner at McDermott, Will & Emery in Washington.

WASHINGTON - Groundbreaking for new U.S. home construction was down 4.0% in December to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 557,000, while private housing permits rose 10.9% to a rate of 653,000, according to Commerce Department data released this morning.

WASHINGTON — While the National Federation of Municipal Analysts is willing to work with issuer and other market groups to promote improvements to the timeliness and quality of municipal disclosure, additional changes to the current regulations are crucial to ensure their adoption throughout the market, the NFMA’s new chairman said last week.

WASHINGTON ­— Though state regulators were swifter and more aggressive than their federal counterparts in responding to abuses that led to the 2008 collapse of the auction-rate securities market, they could have played a larger role in preventing the crisis if their authority had not been preempted by Congress, the head of a regulator group warned yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Retail sales fell 0.3% in December, while sales for the entire year fell the most in 17 years, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.

WASHINGTON - Retail sales fell 0.3% in December, far below economists’ expectations, while sales for the entire year fell the most in 17 years, the Commerce Department reported this morning.

WASHINGTON — In the biggest reorganization of its enforcement division in 30 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday announced the new heads of five specialized enforcement units, including Elaine Greenberg, who will lead a unit expected to boost enforcement of municipal securities and public pension abuses.

WASHINGTON — Two environmental groups critical of coal-fired electric plants are urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to encourage broker-dealers that underwrite municipal bonds for such projects to provide more disclosure about the regulatory and fiscal changes stemming from climate change.

Seven groups representing state securities regulators, investors, and investment advisers are urging leaders of the Senate Banking Committee not to water down language in its draft financial regulatory reform legislation that would require every individual that provides investment advice to be held to a fiduciary duty under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.