Municipal Bonds

Citigroup Leads Wall Street Drive to Punish Taxpayers in Auction-Rate Debt Taxpayers from Massachusetts to California are paying Wall Street banks to end derivative contracts gone bad as they exit the collapsing auction-rate bond market, with penalties in some cases topping $10 million and compounding the pain of rising borrowing costs.

Los Angeles Downtown on Sale at 65% Odd as Debt Drags Down Meruelo Maddux A package of Los Angeles real estate on sale for 35 cents on the dollar is attracting investors to the depressed shares of Meruelo Maddux Properties Inc., the biggest private landowner in the city's four-square-mile downtown.

Treasuries Little Changed; Report May Show Retail Sales Fell Last Month Treasuries were little changed, holding gains from last week, before a government report tomorrow that will probably show declining U.S. retail sales.

Speyers, Bloomberg Seek Revived $1 Billion Manhattan Yards Development New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it may meet with other developers after talks broke down yesterday with Tishman Speyer Properties LP on a $1 billion deal to develop the Hudson Yards on the west side of Manhattan.

U.S. House Approves $300 Billion Foreclosure Legislation Opposed by Bush The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to let a federal agency insure up to $300 billion in mortgages to help homeowners avert foreclosure, a day after the White House threatened to veto the measure.

Citigroup's Pandit Plans to `Wind Down' About $400 Billion of Bank Assets Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said he plans to shed about $400 billion of assets over the next three years as part of his plan to return the biggest U.S. bank to profitability.

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