The dollar headed for the biggest two-day gain against the euro since 2005 after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said economic risks have faded, spurring traders to boost wagers interest rates will rise.
The street was supposed to be the stuff of dreams.
Along South Grasle Road outside Oregon City, six supersize Street of Dreams homes built in 2007 back up to ribbons of Doug fir and a glazed Mount Hood peak.
The builders came to attract future customers, and they were optimistic about selling the show houses that stretched to $3 million. Normally, two or three homes sell during the show and most are sold within a year.
But nine months after the Street of Dreams show, none has sold.
Lehman makes move to turn unsold debt to cash: report Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:27am EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc repackaged unsold debt and used the Federal Reserve's new borrowing facility to convert loans that investors mostly rejected into cash to finance its business, the Wall Street Journal reported.
According to the Journal, Lehman transferred $2.8 billion in loans that included some risky leveraged buyout debt into a new investment entity called Freedom.
Freedom then issued debt securities backed by the loans, and $2.26 billion of the securities got investment-grade credit rankings from Moody's and Standard & Poor's, according to the report.
The bank used some of those securities as collateral for a low-interest, short-term cash loan from the Federal Reserve, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The move was meant as a test to see what the Federal Reserve would accept, and the size of the loan was not material, the Journal added, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Lehman representatives and the Federal Reserve could not be reached immediately for comment.
The U.S. economy has sunk into a recession and government action is critical to stem the damage, according to economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.
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