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Budget deficit down sharply vs. last year

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 13, 2007

Washington

The federal deficit is running sharply lower through the first eight months of this budget year as growth in revenue continues to outpace the growth in spending. The Treasury Department said that the deficit through May totaled $148.5-billion, down 34.6 percent from the same period a year ago. For the year, revenue gains are up 8 percent while outlays are up at a slower pace of 2.5 percent, compared with the same period a year ago.

New York

Bond yields again drive stocks lower

Wall Street plunged Tuesday as investors, driving the Dow Jones industrial average down nearly 130 points, grappled with a seemingly relentless rise in bond yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note soared to a five-year high of 5.27 percent. The climb in bond yields exacerbated jitters about mortgage rates rising, which could hurt the already sluggish housing market, and about the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates, which would slow down corporate dealmaking. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 129.95, or 0.97 percent, to 13, 295.01. Broader markets also posted losses. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 16.12, or 1.07 percent, to 1, 493.00, while the Nasdaq composite index dropped 22.38, or 0.87 percent, to 2, 549.77.

LaSalle deal to put BofA at limit's edge

Bank of America Corp. acknowledged in a regulatory filing that its planned purchase of Chicago's LaSalle Bank Corp. might push the company over a federal ceiling of 10 percent of insured bank deposits nationwide. While the disclosure probably doesn't portend trouble for the contested $21-billion acquisition, it could signal that Bank of America will have to shed some of its deposits or perhaps put the brakes on its aggressive growth plans, at least until the deal closes.

BONITA SPRINGS

WCI delays annual meeting 1 1/2 months

Florida luxury homebuilder WCI Communities Inc. on Tuesday will delay its annual shareholder meeting a month and a half, a day after billionaire activist Carl Icahn urged fellow stockholders not to vote at or attend the meeting originally scheduled for Friday. WCI chairman Don E. Ackerman said postponing the meeting until Aug. 30 gives potential bidders interested in purchasing the company - including Icahn - time to complete due diligence. The management and financial advisers of WCI "have been meeting with entities who have expressed a serious interest in WCI, " Ackerman said in a message to shareholders released Tuesday.

Tallahassee

Insurance boss backs credit ruling

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty on Tuesday praised a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the insurance industry's use of credit scoring, saying the ruling will "assist in Florida's efforts to ensure full disclosure of how credit reports are being used." Insurance companies have challenged Florida regulators on the way they plan to implement legislation passed in 2003 that would ensure the use of credit reports does not negatively affect consumers based on race, religion, ethnic background, income level or other factors.

[Last modified June 13, 2007, 02:02:09]