Existing home sales to Rise United States, fail to recover lost ground

April 20, 2011, 12: 56 pm EDT by Timothy r. Homan

April 20 (Bloomberg)--sales of the United States previously belonged homes rose in March as a supply of properties in or near foreclosure mounting attracted investors.

Purchases have increased by 3.7% to an annual rate of $ 5.1 million, exceeding the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News 5 million, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. All-cash deals accounted for 35% of transactions, the most on record, the group said.Unemployment, the collapse of the values of property and stricter lending rules may push the number of households losing their homes at a record level this year, a sign the market will take time to recover. Even with last month's gains, housing can remain a small component in the economic recovery which began in June 2009. "" We continue to water along the bottom, just tread ", said John Herrmann, a senior strategist for fixed income at State Street Global markets LLC in Boston. "The housing market is quite depressed." We believe that real estate will fall further. "Stocks climbed that companies Intel Corp. at Yahoo! Inc. sales exceeded estimates and the producers of acquired products. The Standard & Poor 500 Index increased by 1.3% to 1,329.69 at 12: 37 in New York.Estimates for March existing sales ranged from 4.59 to 5.4 million, according to the median of 74 forecasts in the Bloomberg survey.Pay CashThe for all cash transactions share is highest since monthly monitoring in August 2008, Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the association of Realtors, said at a press conference today in Washington. Annual figures before 2008 showed to approximately 10 per cent share, said seized property Yun.Les, which include foreclosures and short sales, accounted for 40% of all transactions last month, according to Yun. Purchases by investors climbed to 22% of transactions last month from 19% in February. "This is part of the cleaning process needs to occur,"Yun said, referring to sales in distress." "Home sales are strongest in the very low price range" of less than $100,000, he said, reflecting the increase in demand by investors pay cash.Sales increased in three of the four regions of the United States in March, led by a gain of 8.2% in the South. The West dropped by 0.8%.The average sale price fell 5.9% in March 2010 to $due last month as lower priced properties became a greater share of the market. Sales of homes at a price of $100,000 or less increased by 9.6% in March 2010, compared with a decrease of 6.3% for the market as a whole, the report shows.More SupplyThe number of houses formerly owned for sale climbed to 3.55 million. At the present rate of sale should be 8.4 months to sell these homes compared with 8.5 end of the previous month. Supply in the eight months to nine months beach is compatible with price stability, the group said.Officials of the Federal Reserve, in a statement following their meeting on monetary policy on 15 March, said then that the "economic recovery is on a more equal footing," real estate residential is always "pressed". The Committee of the Central Bank is expected to respond to the next, 26-27 April Washington.Home price has dropped in the 12 months to January by the most in more than a year, the index S & P/Case-Shiller of the values of the House. In 20 cities, prices declined by 3.1%, the largest decline since December 2009, the group said the underlying values of affairs for March 29 ForeclosuresSome are less than the mortgages on the properties. CoreLogic Inc. last month found that approximately 1.8 million households was delinquent or in foreclosure, a set of "shadow inventory" supposedly to add to the 3.5 million existing homes already on the market.Houses cheaper and goods seized are pessimistic constructors. Global builders are not optimistic. Tomb of the National Association of Home Builders confidence ' to 16 this month, according to the tonnage of the Group has published this week. A reading below 50 means a majority of manufacturers view as poor conditions."Home KB, builders based in Los Angeles that targets buyers from the first time, this month reported a loss greater than expected for the quarter ended February 28 as orders plunged".We do not provide a net benefit for 2011, "Director General Jeffrey Mezger said during a conference call with analysts on 5 April." "The economy continues to improve." Despite this, the recovery has yet to include the significant growth of employment and overflowed housing. ?

-Editors: Carlos Torres, James Tyson

To contact the reporter on this story: Timothy r. Homan in Washington to thoman1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz to the cwellisz@bloomberg.net

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Asian stocks rise as housing in United States, gains Boost confidence

April 20, 2011, 3: 38 am EDT by Anna Kitanaka and Norie Kuboyama

April 20 (Bloomberg) - Asian stocks rose with regional index defined for its largest advance this month, U.S. implemented site acquired and revenues exceeded the estimates to companies including Johnson & Johnson, more large economy in the world was recovering from signalling.

Major manufacturer of chip testing equipment, Japan, Advantest gained 3.4% after that Intel Corp. forecast of quarterly sales which can top estimates. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world largest mining company, won 1.2% in Sydney after the metal and the price of oil has increased. Samsung Electronics Co. acquired 4.7 per cent in Seoul after he agreed to sell his computer hard disk drive business. LG Chem Ltd., manufacturer of chemical products of the Korea of the South, jumped 5.6% after posting a 27 percent gain for the benefit of the first quarter.The MSCI Asia Pacific index advanced 1.6% to 136.37 at 4: 32 p.m. in Tokyo, with approximately six actions earn for each that fell on the gauge 1 023-member. The measure fell 0.5% last week, reversing gains of three weeks. "Application to the United States, while he may step force that once again, slowly moves towards a recovery,"said Kiyoshi Ishigane, a strategist than Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co., who oversees the $ 84 billion. "Yesterday, that we have seen this dwelling in the United States was good, which means that the US economy is improving, and is being appreciated by the market today.".Nikkei 225 Stock average advanced Japan of 1.8%. S & P/ASX 200 Index the Australia rose by 1.4% and New Zealand NZX 50 index increased by 1%. Index of ABN Korea in South increased by 2.2 per cent, the largest gain among the benchmarks in the area.Index of Hong Kong Hang Seng has increased by 1.4% while Shanghai Stock Exchange index Composite China rose by 0.3%.StartsFutures housing United States on index of Standard & Poor s 500 has increased 0.7 per cent today. In New York, the index advanced 0.6% yesterday after the Commerce Department said construction implemented increased 7.2% in March from the previous month. Work began on 549,000 homes, exceeding forecasts median 520 000 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.Johnson & Johnson, vendor of second most large world of health products, forecasts of earnings of the year for 2011 is $ 4.90 to $ 5 a sharemore than a month of January of 4.80 4.90 $ after the quarterly earnings forecasts exceeded estimates as a result of new drugs and a weakening of the dollar.Technology Intel ForecastsInformation of revenue sharing rose 2% today, the most among the 10 groups of industry of the index MSCI Asia Pacific in Tokyo, Advantest increased by 3.4% to 1,452 yen. Tokyo Electron Ltd., the largest producer of the Japan of chipmaking equipment, reached 4.1% yen issue. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., manufacturer of largest contract chips in the world, advanced 2.5 per cent for NT$ 69.8 in Taipei.Intel, largest chip manufacturer in the world, said revenue will be $ 12.8 billion, more or less $ 500 million. That compares with $ 11.9 billion, or the average of forecasts of analysts compiled by Bloomberg. "" You are seeing signs in Europe and the United States are always on the road to recovery, "said Hiroichi Nishi, a manager of shares in Tokyo to SMBC Nikko Securities Inc."Which helped ease the nerves."Producers of raw materials today had the second advance between the subgroups of the index MSCI Asia Pacifique.Produits RiseBHP reached 1.2% $47.23, the second largest at boosting in the MSCI index. Rio Tinto Group, the world of the second - most large mining company by sales, 1.2% leading to a $83.12. Inpex Corp., of Japan more great oil and gas Explorer, have jumped from 3.1% to 601,000 yen. Producer offshore energy China CNOOC Ltd., gained 2.4% oil of 19.36.Crude of HK$ for June delivery gained 0.6% yesterday to $108.12 per barrel in New York after data of U.S. starts fueled speculation that may increase the demand for fuel. The London Metal Exchange Index six metals, including copper and aluminum increased by 1%, the largest gain of nearly two weeks.The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 2.5% this year through yesterday, compared to earnings of 4.4% by the & S P 500 and a decline of 0.5% by the Stoxx 600 Index of Europe. In the Asian benchmark stocks are valued at 12.9 times considers an average of the earnings, compared to 13.5 times for the S & P 500 and 11 times for the 1600 Stoxx Samsung sells UnitAmong other stocks rose, Samsung Electronicsbig manufacturer than chips of memory, 4.7% 916,000 won, the greatest support for the MSCI index advanced. Seagate Technology Plc agreed to buy hard disk drive business unprofitable of Samsung 1.38 billion, allowing Samsung to concentrate on its chip operations, the company said.LG Chem has also increased in Seoul, jump to 549,000 won 5.6%, its highest close on record. The petrochemical enterprise will support "high profitability" in the second quarter as plant maintenance by its rivals will limit supply at a time when the demand for chemical products is rising, Director General Kim Bahn Suk said yesterday investors. Net income rises to 656.6 billion won ($601 million) in the three months ending March 31 of 517.7 billion won a year earlier, the company said.LG Corp., the holding company of the Group LG of the Korea of the South including LG Chem climbed 10 per cent to 96,600 won in Seoul, the largest gain on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, after Daishin Securities Co. said the shares are "grossly undervalued." The actions are directed to their highest close since January 2000.

-With the help of Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo. Editor: Brian Fowler

To contact the reporters on this story: Anna Kitanaka in Tokyo at the akitanaka@bloomberg.net; Norie Kuboyama in Tokyo, at nkuboyama@bloomberg.net.

To contact the responsible editor of the story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net

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Offer of talks by Gbagbo of Côte d'Ivoire was a "Ruse", the United States, says

April 09, 2011, 10: 25 am EDT by Olivier Monnier, Baudelaire Mieu and Jason McLure

April 10 (Bloomberg) - The U.S. said offers it to negotiate by the former leader of C?te d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo was a disappointment and end the fighting and to surrender to the forces of the President elected Alassane Ouattara.

"It is clear that attempts to Gbagbo negotiation this week were nothing more than a ruse to regroup and rearm", spokesman of the Department of State Mark Toner said yesterday in a statement in Washington. He said at the United States "condemn the renewed aggression" by the forces of Gbagbo in Abidjan, the commercial capital of the nation of cocoa producing more of the world.Battles are "more intense in a number of neighbourhoods in Abidjan", the State Department said in an update of a warning to Americans to avoid travel in the country. In Abidjan's Cocody district, Gbagbo loyalists attacked Ouattara headquarters at the Golf Hotel, said Meite Sindou, a spokesman for Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro. The forces of the Ouattara repulsed the attack, he said.Disputed Gbagbo internationally recognized victory of the Ouattara in the presidential election on November 28. Many of his troops withdrew or defected as fighters of the Ouattara, called the Republican Forces, swept down in the North of C?te d'Ivoire, Abidjan, a city of four million people."We can hear shots sustained," said Herve Konan, a resident of Cocody.French OperationGbagbo forces regained the territory in Abidjan and foiled a French military operation, according to the New York Times. The French Government said that he attempted to save foreign citizens of a diplomatic residence close to Gbagbo, the newspaper reported, quoting Colonel Thierry Burkhard, a French army spokesman. The operation has been canceled after meeting Gbagbo supporters more than expected, said the newspaper.Commercial flights resumed yesterday at Abidjan airport, Neba Koffi, airport acting General Manager, said in a telephone interview.The European Union has lifted restrictions exports on April 8 on the cocoa of Abidjan and San Pedro port, which is also under the control of the Ouattara. Cocoa in London fell by 25 pounds, or 1.3 percent, to 1,889 pounds ($3,095) per metric ton on March 8. Human Rights Watch said forces loyal to the hundreds of civilians killed Ouattara, burned at least 10 villages and summarily raped women of an ethnic group seems to be loyal to Gbagbo. "Fighters often target people by ethnicity, and attacks disproportionately those too old or lower to flee, said a report by e-mail on April 8 by the New York-based group. "Dozens of women were also held for a day or more and repeatedly raped."A Million FleeThe murders took place during a March by the Republican Forces offensive in the West of the country, the group said.Administration of the Ouattara attempted to call the army soldiers formerly loyal to Gbagbo, who was President from 2000 until last year. "In the"framework for the mobilization for the resumption of the service, the Prime Minister and Minister of defence"require officers, junior officers and the commanders of the army, marine, air force and Gendarmerie Nationale to register on the open lists, "said a statement by the administration of the Ouattara received by electronic mail."More than 1 million people have fled their homes during the four-month crisis, according to the United Nations. Peacekeeping forces of the French peace and the United Nations in Abidjan began helicopter strikes against the forces of Gbagbo April 4. rights Reportthe Human Rights Watch report said that before February, abuse against civilians were committed mainly by forces loyal to Gbagbo. That changed after that combatants nominally under the control of Prime Minister Soro of Ouattara began an offensive in late atrocities February.The resulted in a massacre on March 29, hundreds of civilians in the town of Duékoué Westnear the Liberian border, is home to a large number of people from the Guéré ethnic group, which supported most Gbagbo, according to the report.Based in the Hague's International Criminal Court said it has begun an investigation into the alleged Ivory Coast crimes and administration of Ouattara has agreed to submit to its jurisdiction.

-With the help of Pauline Bax and Drew Hinshaw in Johannesburg and Paul Tighe in Sydney. Editors: Paul Tighe, Peter Hirschberg

To contact the reporters on this story: Olivier Monnier in Abidjan to omonnier@bloomberg.net; Baudelaire Mieu in Accra to bmieu@bloomberg.net; Jason McLure in Accra at the jmclure@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin to the asguazzin@bloomberg.net

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Google said to accept firewall ITA, followed by the United States.

10: 03 Pm EDT by Sara Forden and Jeff Bliss, 08 April 2011

(Update with the FTC in the third paragraph.)

April 8 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc., the largest search engine, has agreed to Ministry of Justice of surveillance research trips and services to win the approval of the purchase of ITA Software Inc. $ 700 million.two people familiar with the matter said.Under the agreement, the company would also be the subject of compulsory licences and create firewalls on the client data, according to people, who asked not be identified, because the agreement was not announced.The agreement to buy ITA, an online travel information company, could pave the way for the Department of Justice to consider a larger investigation of Google. The Federal Trade Commission, which also oversees the U.S. antitrust laws, is considering a possible probe of the activities of Google search, two people who are familiar with the case, said on April 5. the outcome of the case ITA may determine if the two organizations compete for the control of a wider investigation of Google, people have told me. The two organizations sometimes negotiate who will handle large investigations antitrust decision turning on their respective expertise.Rivals such as Microsoft Corp. and Kayak.com have accused Google based in Mountain View, California to the competition.In Cambridge, Massachusetts based ITA consent decree, which provides data for the airline of the rates of note on online travel sites, the Government will endeavour to ensure that travel search results promote unfairly Google-related businessesa person familiar with the said agreement.Adam Kovacevich, a spokesman for Google, did not immediately respond to an email and a telephone call seeking comment. Gina Talamona, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, refused to comment on.Google rose 53 cents to $580.53 at 9: 43 in the trade of the Nasdaq Stock Market.

-Editors: Glenn Holdcraft, David e. Rovella

To contact the reporter on this story: Sara Forden in Washington to sforden@bloomberg.net and; Jeff Bliss in Washington to jbliss@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha to the mhytha@bloomberg.net

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2 Trillion dollars debt distressed value European lead the United States.

08 April 2011, 9: 52 am EDT by Patricia Kuo

(Updates with radiation 2009 loan to the seventh paragraph).

April 8 (Bloomberg)--European distressed debt market is set to surpass the United States for the first time as the region sovereign crisis forces banks to sell 2 trillion dollars of underperforming assets, strategic value Partners LLC said. "The possibility of defining Europe is very attractive and rich, said Victor Khosla, founder of the Manager of distressed debt hedge funds based in Greenwich, Connecticut, said in a telephone interview. "It goes far beyond the United States for the first time."Partners of strategic value, which oversees the 4 billion, is among hedge funds consider Europe as the fallout from the credit crisis and austerity measures trigger fire sale Governments. Mark Unferth, head of debt distress in CQS based in London to United Kingdom LLP, is to stimulate investment in Europe and expects rivals to do the same, he said in an interview on April 6. KKR based in New York & Co. said March 1 that it has hired Mubashir Mukadam at the head of its thrust on the European market.By comparison, US banks have announced that they need to sell assets of 800 billion dollars since the credit crisis, the strategic partners of the value of the calculations show.Debt distress performance generally at least 10 percentage points more than the obligations of the Government. Hedge funds dedicated to the purchase of the debt obtained a 4.1% return means this year after the harvest of 23 percent last year, according to the data Singapore Eurekahedge Pte-based provider. "Invasion funds ' us debt-Distressed seek to take advantage by buying goods at less than their nominal value, providing funding which could give rights to a company actions and opportunities to restructure or to install new management before selling it to a value greater than high performance.The second wave of restructuring in Europe will require "hardcore, real restructuring jurisdiction" for debt swaps handling and consolidation of the activities of the company, said Khosla. Lenders wrote off 6.5 billion euros ($9.4 billion) of loans higher as default values reached a peak in 2009, according to Fitch Ratings.Strategic value partners have 50 London and Frankfurt investment professionals and have invested approximately 6 billion of debt distressed European since it was implemented in 2002. "Europe is not a market for everyone. Over the years, we have seen the US followed by invasion of American retirement of those do not understand how to do business in this region "including the knowledge of different legal regimes from one country to another, said Khosla." "" Given the amount of legacy active failure which must be cleaned, this round of restructuring is going to be at least three to five years and even longer for the countries of the periphery because we don't expect to see a net economic recovery there. "Bank of Ireland, said that April 4 hired Deutsche Bank AG to sell most of its loans for U.K. infrastructure project finance activities. Central Bank of the Ireland loaded four lenders March 31 to raise 24 billion euros after publishing the results of the Bank stress tests. "The series of actions of fundraising by European banks recently is positive for the corporate debt restructuring because it will allow the banks be able to make on these assets impairment losses, said Khosla.

-Editors: Cecile Gutscher, Faris Khan

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Kuo at the pkuo2@bloomberg.net London

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Faris Khan to fkhan33@bloomberg.net

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Sun, 3Com transmitted tips Insider-Trading Scheme, United States said.

06 April 2011, 9: 47 am EDT by David Voreacos

(Updates with details of the complaint to the fourth paragraph).

April 6 (Bloomberg) - a former Attorney of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC transmitted mergers and acquisition data in a system of exchange of insider who reported more than 32 million of illicit profits, U.S. prosecutors charged today.Matthew Kluger flew non-public data on companies, including Sun Microsystems Inc., 3Com Corp. and Acxiom, according to a complaint for the arrest of Federal Bureau of Investigation. Kluger past advice to a conspirator who gave them to Garrett Bauer, a stock trader who was also arrested today, according to the complaint.Kluger, who worked in the Office of Washington from Wilson Sonsini in December 2005, to March 2011 adopted advice illegal when he worked at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP from 1998 to 2001 and during his employment at CravathSwaine & Moore LLP from 1994 to 1997conformément in the complaint. "Kluger had access to information concerning the possibilities of sales and mergers, clients" according to the complaint of the FBI. "" " "While Cravath, Skadden and Wilson Sonsini, Kluger repeatedly breached its obligations fiduciary and other trusted businesses and their customers by providing privileged information" Bauer and conspirator.U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman will hold a press conference today at noon in Newark, New Jersey, where the FBI complaint was filed. Bauer was arrested today in Manhattan and Kluger was arrested in Virginia, according to Rebecca Carmichael, a spokesman for Fishman.Officials of the Securities Exchange Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, will appear also at the press conference.

-With the help of Andrew Dunn in New York. Editors: Glenn Holdcraft, Andrew Dunn

To contact the reporter on this story: David Voreacos in Washington to dvoreacos@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha to the mhytha@bloomberg.net

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New York MTA to the United States among the most efficient Subways, group says

06 April 2011, 10: 39 a.m. EDT Esmé e Deprez.

April 6 (Bloomberg) - Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York, the largest mass-transit U.S. operator, runs one of the more efficient subway systems of the country while the performance of bus behind, a report said.

The MTA subway has lowest cost per passenger's journey, at $1.40, compared to nine other large urban systems in the United States, according to a report today of the Budget Commission of citizens, a group of financial supervision of New York City. Two bus systems of MTA rank in the bottom half in most performance measures, said the report.Cost comparison "with other major transit agencies can show the way to the areas in which the MTA is off line with practices in other places and to suggest priorities for the new efficiency initiatives," said the report.The MTA has a budget of 12.1 billion for the fiscal year 2011. A presentation of November raised transit agency its deficit expected in 2012-14 649 million from $ 233 million earlier estimated because it expects more low-yield investments, financial Director of the Agency said.The recent report operator of New York City transit to those of the cities, particularly in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta.

-Editors: Stacie Servetah, Walid El-Gabry

To contact the reporter on this story: Esmé e. Deprez in New York to the edeprez@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net

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Most large bank foreign bailout kept at the Munis United States on the runway

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April 06, 2011, 12: 20 AM EDT By Bob Ivry

(Find details of banks' borrowing from the Federal Reserve's discount window at LEND .)

April 6 (Bloomberg) - A European bank that received the most Federal Reserve discount window help during the financial crisis also took $381 billion in aid from its home countries and owned subsidiaries implicated in bid-rigging that prosecutors say defrauded U.S. taxpayers.Details of Fed lending released last week show that Dexia SA, based in Brussels and Paris, borrowed as much as $37 billion, with an average daily loan amount of $12.3 trillion in the 18 months after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed in September 2008. The House subcommittee that oversees the Fed plans hearings on the central bank's discount window lending to offshore financial institutions next month.By lending to Dexia, the Fed kept money flowing into local government projects throughout the U.S. as well as the money market funds that invested in them. "Dexia guaranteed bonds issued by entities as varied as the Texas State Veterans Land Board in Austin and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.""If Dexia went bankrupt, it could have been a disaster for municipal finance and money funds," said Matt Fabian, a Concord, Massachusetts-based senior analyst and managing director at Municipal Markets Advisors, an independent research company. "The market has extensive exposure to foreign banks."97 - Year SecretOverseas banks accounted for about 70 percent of discount window loans when borrowing reached its peak of $113.7 billion in October 2008, according to the Fed's data. The discount window, established in 1914, is known as the lender of last resort.By law, most U.S. branches of foreign banks have access to the discount window, said David Skidmore, a spokesman for the American central bank. "They are important providers of credit to U.S. businesses and households, and discount window lending during the financial crisis helped support their continued lending in the United States," he said.The Fed has kept secret discount window borrowers for 97 years. Last week's disclosures were short-mandated after legal victories by Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, and News Corp.'s Fox News Network LLC.DEPFA Bank Plc, a German-owned bank based in Dublin, was another insurer of municipal bonds in the U.S. Depfa's discount window borrowing peaked at $28.5 trillion in November 2008.Loans and GuaranteesDexia, which borrowed $37 billion from the discount window in January 2009, said its loans from the European Central Bank peaked at 122 billion euros ($173 billion) in October 2008. That month, it also received about $200 billion in debt guarantees and $8 billion in cash herbal tea from Belgium, France and Luxembourg.The bank availed itself of other Fed lending programs too. Its total borrowings from the U.S. central bank's Commercial Paper Funding Facility ranked third among users of the emergency program created to support the market for short-term debt issued by banks and corporations. Dexia used the program 42 times for a total of $53.5 billion, according to data the Fed released in December.Dexia also tapped the Term Auction Facility, the lending mechanism the Fed established in December 2007 to increase the discount window. Dexia received 24 TAF loans totaling $105.2 billion, the largest of which was $16.7 billion on Jan. 17, 2008, Fed data show. The lender used TAF about twice a month from December 2007 to September 2008, then once in August 2009 and once more in November 2009. The interest rates it paid ranged from 4.65 percent in December 2007 to 0.25 percent for the two loans in 2009.Fed Loans RepaidThe Fed loans have been repaid, said Ulrike Pommee, a Brussels-based Dexia spokeswoman. "The bank used the Fed's emergency lending facilities to finance U.S. assets only, Pommee said in an e-mail statement.""We have always been very transparent in our communications about the wear and tear on us in the market during the crisis," said Pommee.In 2008, Dexia was hit with buyback provisions in municipal bonds, said Pommee. The bank was one of the biggest backstops of the bonds, providing letters of credit or so-called standby purchase agreements - guarantees to buy the bonds if investors wanted out. Dexia's so-called credit enhancement made it possible for money market funds to buy the bonds.Dexia provided $14.7 billion in standby agreements and letters of credit in North and South America, excluding Mexico, in the first half of 2008, has six-fold increase over the same period a year earlier, the bank said in its first-half 2008 report.Dwindling Participants "This growth was the direct result of a dwindling number of market participants able to offer such financial products combined with the urgent needs of issuers to restructure their debt," Dexia said.Over most of the last decade, thousands of cities, counties, hospitals and universities issued long-term floating - rate bonds and paired them with interest-rate swaps to try to protect against higher borrowing costs. The strategy, which relied on banks such as Dexia to guarantee a market for the variable-rate notes, collapsed when investment firms and bond insurers lost their top credit ratings.Interest-rate swaps are derivatives, or contracts whose values are derived from assets including stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities, or from events such as changes in interest rates or the weather. Swaps are private contracts and the market for them isn 't regulated.'Days From Bankruptcy'Redemptions sapped Dexia so much that the bank was "two days from bankruptcy", Pommee said, citing the French ministry for the economy.Dexia's lifeline from U.S. taxpayers came as federal officials were investigating allegations that the bank's subsidiaries colluded with others to defraud state and local governments.Two form Dexia units were among more than a dozen financial firms that conspired to pay below-market interest rates to U.S. state and local governments on so-called guaranteed investment contracts, or GICs, according to documents filed in a U.S. Justice Department antitrust criminal case.Municipalities buy GICs with money raised by selling bonds, allowing them to earn a return until the funds are needed for schools, roads and other public works.An employee of Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd., one of the Dexia subsidiaries, agreed to pay kickbacks ranging from $4,500 to $475,000 to a Los Angeles investment broker called CDR Financial Products Inc. in exchange for rigging bids, according to people familiar with the case and public records.Fed InformationCDR employees fed information on competitors' bids to FSA, allowing the firm to win deals at a lower interest rate than it would have paid, according to a federal indictment, public records and the people.Steven Goldberg, has train FSA banker, was indicted in July on fraud and conspiracy charges. He has pleaded not guilty. FSA, which hasn ain't been indicted, is facing a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. While Dexia sold the bond insurance unit of FSA, it remained exposed to legal risks because it kept another division of the company, its Financial Products segment, Dexia said in its third - quarter 2010 report.Dexia has said its funding from the European Central Bank remained at 18 billion euros in February 2011. Still, its borrowing from the Fed "was a temporary situation and now they're trading just fine," said Nat Singer of Swap Financial Group LLC in South Orange, New Jersey.

-With assistance from John Martens in Brussels, Martin z. Braun in New York and William Selway in Washington. Editors: John Voskuhl, Ted Bunker.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Ivry in New York at bivry@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gary Putka at gputka@bloomberg.net.

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March 18, YouTube for United Kingdom IP Netanyahu reminded interview on YouTube

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March 18, YouTube for United Kingdom IP Netanyahu reminded interview on YouTube

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