Andrew Ackerman

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.

WASHINGTON — A Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board proposal on priority of orders in new-issue retail periods would impose new standards on dealers that are confusing or contradictory and could lead to higher borrowing costs for issuers, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association warned.

Initial jobless claims dropped by 22,000 to 432,000 for the week ending Dec. 26, the lowest number of initial claims reported for any week last year, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

WASHINGTON – Initial jobless claims dropped by 22,000 to 432,000 for the week ending Dec. 26, the lowest number of initial claims reported for any week this year, the Labor Department reported today.

WASHINGTON — Next year will bring significant changes in the municipal securities market if Congress passes sweeping financial regulatory reform in what would be the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the Great Depression.

WASHINGTON ­— The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday charged a Houston-based broker with engaging in unauthorized and unsuitable trading on behalf of two Florida municipalities, putting them at risk of losing millions of dollars while reaping more than $14 million in commissions.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. will complete the buyback of auction-rate securities from retail investors six months early under a settlement in principle reached with securities regulators in Missouri, Indiana, and Colorado announced late Monday.

Durable goods orders inched up 0.2% in November, the second increase in the past three months, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

WASHINGTON - Durable goods orders inched up 0.2% in November, the second increase in the past three months, the Commerce Department reported this morning.

Existing home sales jumped 7.4% in November to a 6.54 million annual rate, spurred by the original Nov. 30 deadline for a recently extended federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers, the National Association of Realtors reported yesterday.

Now that the first shoe has dropped in the Justice Department's criminal investigation of alleged anti-competitive activities in the municipal derivatives and investment markets, what comes next in 2010?

WASHINGTON - Existing home sales jumped 7.4% in November to a 6.54 million annual rate spurred by the original Nov. 30 deadline for a recently extended federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers, the National Association of Realtors reported today.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Friday filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a revised proposal that would temporarily give issuers more time to voluntarily disclose annual financial information to EMMA for special designation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is moving forward with a sweeping but informal inquiry into the manner in which Miami presented its financial condition in offering documents for bonds issued in 2007.

WASHINGTON - The consumer price index rose 0.4% in November boosted by a large monthly increase in gasoline prices, the Labor Department reported today.

A coalition of publicly traded, non-bank corporations that own billions of dollars of illiquid student loan auction-rate securities is pushing for a federal liquidity backstop so they can sell the ARS and have money to invest in their businesses.