ROME (MNI) – The government of Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti has approved a hotly contested package of measures intended to help boost economic growth by deregulating and increasing competition in a number of sectors. After securing passage late last year of E30 billion in spending cuts and tax increases to address the country’s public [...]

Multiple reports that a Greek debt swap deal is close to completion European oil embargo talks on Iran to continue through weekend; Greece and others seeking an eight-month delay West may resume nuclear talks with Iran US existing home sales rise 5% in December, 11 month high; inventories of unsold homes fall to lowest since [...]

–Updating Story Sent 13:59 ET With New Comments From Ore –Research Firm Strategas Has No Plan To Issue Non-Mfg SLIM Equivalent By Yali N’Diaye WASHINGTON (MNI) – The former head of the widely followed Institute For Supply Management manufacturing index Friday said it “remains to be proven” how his new employer’s leading manufacturing index correlates [...]

According to CFTC data, the net short position rose to another record, 3% larger than the prior week. Remember, the data is as of the close of business on Tuesday, essentially when we were near trend lows. The 3.5 cent rally off the lows probably trimmed that short position by a chunk, though we’ll have [...]

Can’t slip anything past Reuters. Adam was all over this story this week like white on rice… I liked this line: “Portugal was the only country really rattled by the downgrade because it is seen as a much more complicated case,” said Gilles Moec, senior European economist at Deutsche Bank. “It combines the same high [...]

Monti: State should be compensated for selling digital TV spectrum Hopes to have labor reforms wrapped up quickly Doesn’t see German support for euro bonds in short term

By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MNI) – The Federal Reserve Friday provided a sneak peak of how those new federal funds projections are going to be presented Wednesday, anonymously and from all Board members as well as all the voting and non-voting regional Bank presidents — 17 in all. Therefore, it is going to be impossible [...]

More important what government does rather than how long it lasts Amen, Brother Monti. Amen.  

Those pesky EUR 31 bln in Anglo Irish bonds the government of Ireland has taken responsibility for is proving to be a massive pain in the purse. Ireland would like to reduce that burden. How do you do that without stiffing the creditors via a restructuring a la Greece? By getting your European “partners” to [...]

Dolly the Sheep, that is.

US DATA: NAR corrects existing home price data for Oct-Nov. See MNI Main wire.

WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following text is the Federal Reserve’s Friday explanation of how the anonymous views of 17 FOMC participants will be depicted as to both the time of the first rate raises and the path of the federal funds rate in the years ahead, for 2 p.m. ET release Wednesday just prior to [...]

And here is what they will look like. We knew this but the Fed is giving us a heads up to try and avoid confusion as they unveil a new communications tool.  In the upper panel, the shaded bars represent the number of FOMC participants who project that the initial increase in the target [...]

According to the Cornerstone Research project, securities class-action lawsuits in the U.S.increased by 6.8 percent last year, led by claims against companies involved in mergers and acquisitions and Chinese companies listed on U.S.exchanges through reverse mergers. The lawsuits include M&A claims involving Verizon Communications Inc., Terremark Worldwide, Inc, Smurfit-Stone Container Corp and Rock-Tenn Co, Exelon [...]

–Research Firm Strategas Has No Plan To Issue Non-Mfg SLIM Equivalent By Yali N’Diaye WASHINGTON (MNI) – The former head of the widely followed Institute For Supply Management manufacturing index Friday said it “remains to be proven” how his new employer’s leading manufacturing index correlates with the ISM index. Research firm Strategas announced Friday the [...]

U.S.prosecutors opposed a claim filed by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) director Rajat Gupta to block use in his criminal case of wiretap evidence obtained from the mobile phone of convicted inside trader Raj Rajaratnam.    According to the government, six different judges authorized the wiretaps because they are particularly appropriate in investigating insider trading, [...]

–Congressional Budget Office Report On Jan 31 To Kick Off Fiscal Debate –CBO Chief Elmendorf To Hold 11 A.M. Briefing Jan 31 on New Report –Experts Say CBO’s Current Law Baseline Doesn’t Reflect Fiscal Reality –Analysts Say Keen Attention Should Be Given To Alternative Baselines By John Shaw WASHINGTON (MNI) – When the Congressional Budget [...]

FRANKFURT (MNI) – The Swiss National Bank will enforce its 1.20 franc-euro exchange rate for as long as needed and stands ready to take further measures should deflationary risks emerge, SNB interim President Thomas Jordan said in an interview with Swiss paper NZZ published on Friday. “At the moment, there is simply no alternative [to [...]

Will cut red tape Package will help youth, cut privileges Italians convinced they must change their economy Labor reform talks to start next week Structural reforms are extremely important but they take a long time to bear fruit. A major first step, though…

According to Italian ANSA news wire