Free Republic

Regulators are taking aim at the relationship between high-frequency trading firms and major exchanges, examining whether the preferential treatment market operators offer the firms puts other investors at a disadvantage. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating deals between large high-speed firms and the two futures-exchange operators, CME Group Inc. and IntercontinentalExchange Group Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. The probe is focused on complicated, often opaque incentive programs that give high-volume trading firms financial benefits such as discounts on fees the exchanges charge to execute trades, the people said.

NEW YORK -- The Federal Reserve on Wednesday reluctantly opened the books on its monumental campaign to save the financial system in the midst of the recent crisis, revealing how it distributed some $3.3 trillion in relief. The data revealed that the Fed's aid was scattered much more widely than previously understood. Two European megabanks -- Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse -- were the largest beneficiaries of the Fed's purchase of mortgage-backed securities. The Fed's dollars also flowed to major American companies that are not financial players, including McDonald's and Harley-Davidson, through unsecured short-term loans. The measure, initiated in Jan....

The New York Times' story detailing Connecticut Attorney General Dick Blumenthal's (D) misstatements about his service in Vietnam -- he received five deferments and never served in the country, according to the paper -- has the potential to fundamentally reshape the Nutmeg State Senate race. Writes Raymond Hernandez: "What is striking about Mr. Blumenthal's record is the contrast between the many steps he took that allowed him to avoid Vietnam, and the misleading way he often speaks about that period of his life now, especially when he is speaking at veterans' ceremonies or other patriotic events." Oomph. Blumenthal campaign manager...

The NYSE's has had its share of bad publicity recently, much of it well deserved, but the latest development is something that we can all cheer: the public lynching of so-called "front-runners." These are the floor-trading institutions who step ahead of their own customers to buy or sell stock more or less risklessly. One way they do it is by using the options markets. For example, XYZ Brokers might have a customer who wants to acquire a million shares of Ajax Corp, paying no more than $2.00 above a current market price of $45.25. "No problem," says XYZ, which immediately...