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BB&T-SunTrust deal may be the first of a wave of bank mergers

Feb 7, 2019
BB&T Corp. is buying its competitor, SunTrust Banks, in an all-stock deal. The merger of the two southeastern U.S. regional banks is the biggest in the consumer-banking sector since the financial crisis. To some extent, the merger’s the product of the grow-or-die environment for consumer banks — that only by joining forces can the banks compete […]
A Sun Trust bank flag flies above their bank in downtown Washington, DC.
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There's yet another proposal to get the government out of the mortgage-guarantee business

Feb 4, 2019
One of the last big unresolved issues from the financial crisis is what to do about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Together with government-owned Ginnie Mae, they own or guarantee more than half the home loans in the country. Fannie and Freddie have been under conservatorship — bascially government protection and control — since 2008, […]
Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac says rates on 30-year fixed mortgages fell below 3% this week. For some people, that's a chance to refinance.
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The origin of the holiday half day of trading on Wall Street

Nov 23, 2018
Federal law prohibits markets from being closed more than three consecutive days.
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The last CEO standing from the financial crisis

Oct 3, 2018
Cybersecurity is now the top worry of Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase.
Peter Balonon-Rosen/Marketplace

What else can Big Data do? Pick stocks.

Sep 21, 2018
Credit card swipes, satellite data, media subscriptions ... all kinds of information fuels data-driven investing.
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5 things you need to know about Lehman Brothers

Sep 10, 2018
Lehman's collapse is, to this day, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history.
Two employees of Christie's auction house manoeuvre the Lehman Brothers corporate logo on Sept. 24, 2010 in London, England.
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For public good, not for profit.

The global economy a decade after the financial crisis

Sep 5, 2018
A McKinsey Global Institute report looks at what we learned and the risks we can expect moving forward.
A video board shows the Dow Jones closing above 20,000 for the first time at the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 25, 2017.
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We're about to enter the longest bull market ever

Aug 22, 2018
We explain what that means.
The Wall Street Bull sculpture is seen in the Financial District on Dec. 8, 2016 in New York. 
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Lloyd Blankfein changed Goldman Sachs. Will David Solomon keep it up?

Jul 17, 2018
Goldman Sachs reported quarterly profits today, beating analyst expectations. As is often the case on Wall Street, the ups were no match for the downs — like heavy legal expenses and weak trading results. But the big news for the bank was that a successor has been named to replace storied Goldman CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, who […]