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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC ) is now looking into potential insider trading by Standard & Poor's employees before the rating agency's decision to downgrade the U.S.'s long-term debt, according to Financial Times. The SEC has asked S&P to disclose which employees knew of the downgrade decision before the public announcement, as part of a preliminary examination into potential insider trading. The examination staff will likely try to decipher whether any person's with knowledge of the decision shorted stocks, or in any way benefitted from the U.S.'s downgrade to AA+ from an AAA credit rating. The SEC may...

UPDATE: Dow down 460 at 2:00 est. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is taking a beating as President Obama continues to speak. Towards the beginning of his speech, the index was down 375 points. As I write now it is down 450. Obama's blaming of everyone else and trotting out the same old "solutions" are not helping. The S&P average is down a total of 5% on the day. The NASDAQ is also down 5% on the day. This is becoming a run. We need leadership now. In addition, between the time he announced the speech and gave it, the...

Live feed of the President's Speech on the Economy.

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks lost 2.18 percent on Monday to end at the lowest point in nearly five months despite a G7 pledge to help stabilise markets in the wake of the first-ever cut in the US credit rating. The benchmark Nikkei-225 index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 202.32 points to 9,097.56, the lowest finish since March 17, when Japan had just been hit by its huge quake, tsunami and nuclear disasters. The Topix index of all first-section issues sank 2.26 percent or 18.10 points to 782.86. The Nikkei opened down 1.40 percent after the G7 economic powers -- Britain,...

U.S. Treasury debt is as safe as it was before a Standard & Poor's rating downgrade of the United States and Congress' "damaging" debate over raising the country's debt limit, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Sunday. Geithner, in an interview with NBC/CNBC television, also called on European leaders to ensure that there is an "unequivocal financial backstop" for euro zone governments facing fiscal and debt problems. He added that a double-dip recession was unlikely if governments and central banks made good decisions. Asked whether Treasuries were as safe now as they were last week, Geithner replied: "Absolutely. And the...