Fed’s moves bring praise, new scrutiny
WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve has taken its boldest action since the Great Depression, invoking rarely used powers in an effort to contain a panic threatening to undermine the economy. The central bank acted with speed the White House and Congress only could envy.

Stocks end volatile week with big rally
NEW YORK – Wall Street capped a week of remarkable volatility with a big advance Thursday that left stocks higher for the week but didn’t silence all of investors’ concerns about the economy and the financial system.

Wall Street culture not likely to change
NEW YORK – Wall Street investment bankers got another lesson about the dangers of risk-taking this past week with the downfall of Bear Stearns Cos. The question now obviously is, how long will it last?

Partying Like It’s 1929 (Paul Krugman)
The financial crisis currently under way is basically an updated version of the wave of bank runs that swept the nation three generations ago. People aren’t pulling cash out of banks to put it in their mattresses — but they’re doing the modern equivalent, pulling their money out of the shadow banking system and putting it into Treasury bills. And the result, now as then, is a vicious circle of financial contraction. Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues at the Fed are doing all they can to end that vicious circle. We can only hope that they succeed. Otherwise, the next few years will be very unpleasant — not another Great Depression, hopefully, but surely the worst slump we’ve seen in decades. Even if Mr. Bernanke pulls it off, however, this is no way to run an economy. It’s time to relearn the lessons of the 1930s, and get the financial system back under control.

Frank calls for financial risk regulator
Barney Frank, the powerful US lawmaker who chairs the House financial services committee, on Thursday called for Congress to consider authorising the Federal Reserve to broaden its powers and act as a ¨financial services risk regulator”. Mr Frank´s proposal, outlined in a speech in Boston, comes amid increasing pressure in Congress for tighter regulation of investment banks following the Fed´s decision on Sunday night to offer them emergency finance. “To the extent that anybody is creating credit, they ought to be subject to the same type of prudential supervision that now applies only to banks,” Mr Frank proposed.

Woes in Condo Market Build As New Supply Floods Cities
The condominium market is about to get worse as many cities brace for a flood of new supply this year — the result of construction started at the height of the housing boom. More than 4,000 new units will be completed in both Atlanta and Phoenix by the end of the year. Developers in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., are readying nearly 10,000 total new units in a market already struggling with canyons of unsold condos. San Diego, another hard-hit region, will add 2,500 units, according to estimates provided by Reis Inc., a New York-based real-estate-research firm.