NEW YORK – The government has handed its ATM card to beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Treasury Department said Thursday it removed the $400 billion financial cap it will provide to keep the companies from failing. Already, taxpayers have shelled out $111 billion to the pair.

Treasury Department officials said the $400 billion limit would be replaced with a flexible formula to ensure the two agencies can stand behind the billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities they sell to investors.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide vital liquidity to the mortgage industry by purchasing home loans from lenders and selling them to investors. Together, they own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about $5.5 trillion, or about half of all mortgages.

Without government aid, the firms would have gone broke, leaving millions of people unable to get a mortgage.

The biggest headwind facing the housing recovery has been the rise in foreclosures as unemployment remains high. The Treasury's latest move could allow Fannie and Freddie to play a bigger role in restructuring mortgages for troubled borrowers.

The news follows the announcement Thursday that Fannie's and Freddie's chief executives could get paid as much as $6 million for 2009, despite the companies' dismal performances this year.

Fannie's CEO, Michael Williams, and Freddie CEO Charles "Ed" Haldeman Jr. each will receive $900,000 in salary, $3.1 million in deferred payments next year and another $2 million if they meet certain performance goals, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The pay packages were approved by the Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie.

That pay is far less than what their predecessors earned. Former Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd received $10.2 million in 2008 and former Freddie CEO Richard Syron pocketed $13.1 million. Both execs were ousted when federal regulators seized the companies in September 2008. The federal government blocked exit packages for the pair worth up to $24 million.

The chief executives' pay could spark new criticism about the government's numerous bailouts, but that may be unfounded, said Mark Borges, principal with management consulting firm Compensia.

Haldeman and Williams each could command between $5 million and $10 million in a similar position in the private sector, Borges estimated, and without the notable challenges and public scrutiny they face at these companies.

"I doubt too many people would look at these jobs and say, 'Gosh, I would love to go there for my next career move,'" Borges said instant payday loans. "The government is getting top notch executives to solve problems that are not easy to solve."

The bulk of their pay is also not guaranteed, Borges said, so these executives can't pocket and run and must meet certain long-term goals or risk giving some of it back.

Freddie Mac's board sets the performance goals for the chief executive, which won't be disclosed until next year. Fannie Mae's filing outlined its corporate goals including "being a recognized leader in the housing recovery," "protecting taxpayers," and "managing risk more effectively."

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined to offer further details on CEO performance goals.

Public anger over Wall Street pay boiled over earlier this year. In response, the Obama administration imposed pay curbs on banks that received government bailouts. All the major banks have since repaid their federal money, largely to escape caps on executive pay.

Former Bank of America Corp. CEO Ken Lewis, for example, agreed to forgo his salary and bonus this year under pressure from the government. Last year, he pocketed more than $9 million in total compensation. Bank of America received $45 billion in government assistance, which it has since repaid.

Freddie Mac hired Haldeman, a former mutual fund executive, in July. At the time, the company disclosed his annual salary of $900,000 but did not disclose other incentive payments. In September, the company hired a new chief financial officer, Ross Kari, and said his pay package would be worth up to $5.5 million.

Williams, formerly Fannie Mae's chief operating officer, took over as CEO in April after the first government-appointed CEO, Herbert Allison, took a job at the Treasury Department. Williams earned a base salary of $676,000 last year, plus a retention award of $260,000.

Washington-based Fannie Mae was created in 1938 in the aftermath of the Great Depression. It was privatized 30 years later to limit budget deficits during the Vietnam War. In 1970, the government formed its sibling and competitor McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac.

Though the Obama administration has yet to divulge its long-term plans for the two companies, they are unlikely to return to their former power and influence.

___

AP Real Estate Reporter Alan Zibel in Washington contributed to this report.

Treasury removes cap for Fannie and Freddie aid

Hot News: MGIC shares drop after lawsuit disclosure

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Bernard Madoff, the man behind the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, has been moved to a medical facility at the federal prison complex where he's serving a 150-year sentence.

Madoff, 71, was in a medium-security facility of the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina. However, on Dec. 18 he was moved to Butner Federal Medical Center, part of the prison complex that houses male inmates of all security levels, Traci Billingsley, a spokeswoman at Federal Bureau of Prisons, said in an email to MarketWatch.

It's not clear why Madoff was moved infra red heaters.

"The potential reasons for an inmate's transfer are numerous and we don't release those specific reasons," Billingsley said.

Ira Sorkin, Madoff's lawyer, didn't immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment on Wednesday afternoon.

Madoff pleaded guilty earlier this year to running a Ponzi scheme that left investors with tens of billions of dollars in losses. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison in June.

Madoff moved to prison medical facility

SEATTLE (AP) &<51; A federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling on Tuesday and ordered Microsoft to stop selling its Word program in January and pay a Canadian software company $290 million for violating a patent,.

But Microsoft expects the decision to have little impact on Word or Microsoft&S217;s Office package in the United States. Microsoft said Tuesday that new versions of the product, with the computer code in question removed, will be ready for sale when the injunction begins Jan. 11.

The case started in 2007 when the software company, i4i Inc. of Toronto, sued Microsoft, saying it owned the technology behind a tool in the popular word processing program. The technology gives Word users an improved way to edit XML, or code that tells the program how to interpret and display a document&S217;s contents.

A Texas jury found that Microsoft Word willfully infringed on the patent. Microsoft appealed that decision, but the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the lower court&S217;s damage award and the injunction against future sales of infringing copies of Word guaranteed payday loans.

A founder and co-inventor of i4i, Michel Vulpe, said in a statement that the company was pleased with the decision, calling it &S220;an important step in protecting the property rights of small inventors.&S221;

Microsoft said it has been preparing for such a judgment since August. Copies of Word and Office sold before Jan. 11 are not affected by the court&S217;s decision. And Microsoft said it had &S220;put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature&S221; from versions of Word 2007 and Office 2007 that would be sold after that date.

The company said however, that it might appeal further, asking for either a rehearing in front of the appeals court&S217;s full panel of judges or in front of the Supreme Court.

Court Upholds Patent Ruling Against Microsoft

WASHINGTON (Reuters) &<51; Sales at United States retailers rose more than expected in November as consumers spent more on gasoline and a wide range of other goods, data showed on Friday, raising hopes of a self-sustaining economic recovery.

The Commerce Department said total retail sales increased 1.3 percent last month, the largest advance since August, after rising by a downwardly revised 1.1 percent in October. It was the second straight monthly gain. Sales in October were previously reported to have increased 1.4 percent.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales gaining 0.7 percent last month. Overall sales in November were helped by strong receipts from gasoline stations and increased purchases of motor vehicles and parts, building materials and electronic goods, among others. Gasoline sales surged 6 percent, the largest increase since June.

Compared with November last year, sales were up 1.9 percent, the first year-on-year gain since August 2008, a Commerce Department official said.

The data should help to ease concerns that the economy&S217;s recovery could falter because of lackluster consumer spending. The economy resumed growing in the third quarter, mostly because of government spending.

With the labor market starting to stabilize and household wealth rising, there is growing optimism that consumer spending will soon pick up.

Excluding motor vehicles and parts, retail sales increased 1 free credit report online.2 percent in November, the largest increase since January, after being flat in October. Economists had expected a 0.4 percent increase.

Core retail sales excluding autos, gasoline and building materials rose 0.6 percent, advancing for a fifth straight month.

Sales of building materials climbed 1.5 percent last month, the biggest gain since April 2008, after falling 1.8 percent in October. Purchases of electronics and appliances jumped 2.8 percent, the largest increase since January. The strong report on retail sales came as the Labor Department reported a rise of 1.7 percent in import prices in November, their largest gain since June, driven higher by fuel costs.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a slimmer rise of 1 percent. October&S217;s gain was also revised up to 0.8 percent from the 0.7 percent previously reported.

Import prices have been steadily rising over the last year and have increased during eight of the last nine months, the Labor Department said. They also rose 3.7 percent from November 2008 in the first annual gain since the October 2007-2008 period.

Excluding petroleum, import prices were up a much slimmer 0.7 percent in November.

U.S. Retail Sales Exceed Forecasts

BRUSSELS (Reuters) &<51; European Union regulators accepted on Wednesday a pledge by the chip maker Rambus to cut royalties worldwide on computer memory chip patents for five years to settle antitrust charges and avoid a possible fine.

Under the settlement, the chipmaker will not be found liable for any wrongdoing, the European Commission said in a statement.

The commission, following complaints from Infineon Technologies of Germany and Hynix Semiconductor of South Korea, had charged the company in 2007 with abusing its dominant position by claiming unreasonable royalties.

Rambus, based in Los Altos, Calif., made its offer to settle in June and this was market-tested by the commission, the executive body of the 27-country European Union.

&S220;The commitments in their final form, as modified by Rambus, are adequate to meet the competition concerns expressed in the statement of objections,&S221; or charge sheet, the statement said.

As part of the settlement, Rambus will cap royalties at 1.5 percent for the later generations of JEDEC DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) standards for five years bad credit pay day loans.

JEDEC is a standard-setting organization for the chip-making industry. JEDEC-compliant DRAMs represent around 95 percent of the market and are used in virtually all personal computers.

&S220;An effective standard-setting process should take place in a non-discriminatory, open and transparent way to ensure competition on the merits and to allow consumers to benefit from technical development and innovation,&S221; the competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, said. &S220;Abusive practices in standard-setting can harm innovation and lead to higher prices for companies and consumers. For its part, the commission will vigorously enforce the competition rules in this area,&S221; she added in the statement.

The commission said the five-year pledge would ensure the decision covered any claims of Rambus based on patents, and patent applications, dating back to when it was a JEDEC member.

Europe Accepts Settlement Offer From Rambus

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday congressional proposals to audit the Fed and strip it of regulatory powers as part of post-crisis reforms could damage prospects for economic and financial health in the future.

"These measures are very much out of step with the global consensus on the appropriate role of central banks, and they would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the United States," Bernanke wrote in a column posted on the Washington Post&&9;s website.

The rare newspaper column by a Fed chairman comes shortly before Bernanke testifies before a Senate panel on his renomination to serve a second four-year term at the helm of the central bank and answers a series of steps on Capitol Hill that could diminish the central bank&&9;s role.

Lawmakers are angry with the Fed over its emergency bailouts of major financial firms and its failure to prevent the contagion of mortgage delinquencies that crashed the financial system. A proposal to audit the Fed&&9;s monetary policy deliberations won a committee vote recently over the objections of House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank.

Frank&&9;s Senate counterpart, Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, is himself the author of a proposal to consign the Fed solely to making decisions about setting benchmark interest rates.

Bernanke, in his column, conceded the Fed had missed some of the riskiest behavior in the lead up to the crisis. But he said the Fed had helped avoid an even more damaging economic meltdown and has stepped up its policing of the financial system.

"The Fed played a major part in arresting the crisis, and we should be seeking to preserve, not degrade, the institution&&9;s ability to foster financial stability and to promote economic recovery without inflation," he said no fax pay day loans.

Bernanke acknowledged that lawmakers are responding to public anger over the government&&9;s response to the turmoil.

"The Federal Reserve, like other regulators around the world, did not do all that it could have to constrain excessive risk-taking in the financial sector in the period leading up to the crisis," he said.

However, the central bank has moved "aggressively" to fix the problems, Bernanke said. The Fed&&9;s knowledge of complex financial institutions is invaluable in supervising them, he said.

The Fed&&9;s ability to slash interest rates to combat a recession without fueling inflation depends on its political independence he said. Allowing audits of its monetary policy -- as proposed legislation would do -- would increase the perceived influence of Congress on interest rate decisions, he said.

That, in turn "would undermine the confidence the public and the markets have in the Fed to act in the long-term economic interest of the nation," Bernanke wrote.

Frank has said the audit provision is likely to be revisited as legislation winds through both houses of Congress.

Dodd has said his proposal is a starting point for debate.

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing Bernard Orr)

Audit would hurt economic prospects: Bernanke

Porsche&S217;s $17.2 billion of debt will be mostly eliminated after the sports-car maker completes its merger with Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn, chief executive of both companies, said Friday.

&S220;By the time the merger is done, the level of more or less zero will certainly be reached,&S221; Mr. Winterkorn said.

Volkswagen and Porsche agreed in August to merge, ending a four-year feud for control. The accord was reached when debt at Porsche tripled to more than 10 billion euros in six months after the company&S217;s failed takeover of VW fast cash loans.

Deliveries by VW this year will &S220;slightly exceed&S221; the record level of 6.23 million vehicles for 2008, Mr. Winterkorn said in Stuttgart, Germany. Porsche will sell more than 76,000 cars in the current fiscal year, he said.

VW Merger Will Cut Porsche Debt

WASHINGTON &<51; Flights over much of the eastern United States were delayed Thursday by a pre-dawn failure in a fairly new communications system, which led to the shutdown of a computer that accepts flight plans from the airlines and feeds them to air traffic controllers.

It was the fourth major systemwide disruption attributed to the communications system, which the Federal Aviation Administration began putting into service earlier in this decade as a way to cut costs and assure reliability.

But when it failed, at about 5 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, the airlines had to send flight plans by fax, and the controllers typed them into their computers, sort of a hunt-and-peck exercise that was so cumbersome that many planes were delayed more than an hour. But there was no risk to planes in flight, according to the F.A.A.

By mid-morning the system was working again, but the backlog caused widespread airport delays.

The crucial computer that was knocked out, the National Airspace Data Interchange Network, situated in Atlanta and with a backup in Salt Lake City, had also failed in August 2008, with a similar result, but for a different reason.

Flight plans typically consist of hundreds of alpha-numeric characters giving the flight number, type of equipment, takeoff location and various intermediate points, with altitudes. When the first failure happened at about 5 a.m. &<51; a router, according to the F.A.A. &<51; it knocked out not only the computer that handles flight plans, but one that sorts through &S220;notices to airmen,&S221; or F.A.A. alerts about short-lived problems like equipment failures or runway closings, and delivers them to pilots.

By early afternoon, the F.A.A.&S217;s online status board was showing the problem limited to the Northeast. The computer that handles the flight plans was repaired by around 9 a low interest payday loans.m., but by then a huge backlog developed.

&S220;It may take many hours for the system to catch up,&S221; the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a statement, adding, &S220;Airport efficiency is being cut by at least half in places like New York - J.F.K.&S221;

Airlines reported problems in other areas as well. Around the country, planeloads of passengers heard pilots blame the air traffic system as they sat on the tarmac.

AirTran Airways, based in Orlando, Fla., quickly announced that passengers with tickets for Thursday could rebook without charge, as is commonly done in storms.

The aviation agency&S217;s data processing system has a variety of problems. While it was hailed as a marvel when it was introduced decades ago, much of it is written in obsolete computer language and the agency has been slow to provide updates. And with a requirement for up-to-the-minute, round-the-clock performance, parts of the system have crashed while technicians tried to install upgrades, like uninterruptible power supplies, or software fixes.

Each failure causes frustration. At LaGuardia Airport in New York on Thursday morning, Gilbert Valdez, a teacher a the University of Tricosi in Chicago, who flies in four or five times a year, showed up early for his 2 p.m. flight home because he had heard about the disruption.

&S220;It&S217;s kind of nerve wracking because I don&S217;t want to be stranded at LaGuardia,&S221; Mr. Valdez said. &S220;I just want to get home.&S221;

Micheline Maynard contributed reporting from Detroit, and Brian Knowlton from Washington.

Backlog of Flight Delays After Computer Problems

US President Barack Obama (C) stands with other APEC leaders for group photo following their evening dinner in Singapore, 14 Nov 2009Pacific Rim leaders have ended their annual APEC gathering with a vow to seek a sustained economic recovery and reject protectionism.The leaders of 21 Pacific Rim economies gathered around the conference table in Singapore.But the big news came outside their formal sessions - in closed door meetings and one-on-one talks.U.S. President Barack Obama focused on the sidelines, engaging in almost non-stop personal diplomacy.

Obama Discusses Climate ChangeHe began early Sunday, with an unexpected meeting on climate change called by the leaders of Mexico and Australia.Over breakfast, the prime minister of Denmark urged the group to back a different approach to save the upcoming international climate conference in Copenhagen.Severe drought is one of the expected consequence in Africa of climate changeWith negotiations on a new global climate agreement in trouble, there was consensus behind an alternative: adopt a political framework in Copenhagen and fill in the details later.

Obama Discusses Nuclear IssuesThere was also an effort to push forward talks on arms control, with President Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev meeting to talk about a successor to the soon-to-expire 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.Mr. Obama said he still believes they can get an agreement by the end of the year. The president said, "I am confident if we work hard, and with a sense of urgency about it that we should be able to get that done and I very much feel as if both sides are trying to work through some difficult technical issues but are doing so in good faith easy payday loans."

Russian President Dmitri MedvedevThey also talked about Iran's nuclear program.  President Obama urged Iran once again agree to a deal to ship its uranium out of the country for processing. "We are now running out of time with respect to that approach. And so I discussed with President Medvedev the fact that we have to continue to maintain urgency," said Mr. Obama.

President Medvedev said he still hopes to convince Iran to accept the nuclear deal. The Russian leader said, "We are prepared to work further and I hope that our joint work will yield positive results."

Obama Discusses BurmaBurma's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (r) walks with US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell after their meeting at the Inya Lake Hotel, in Rangoon, Burma, 04 Nov 2009A short time later, Mr. Obama became the first American president to meet with all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asia nations - including Burma.He called for political reform in Burma and the release of democracy advocate Aug San Suu Kyi, saying, "I reaffirmed the policy I put forward yesterday in Tokyo with regard to Burma."Mr. Obama's last meeting before leaving Singapore was with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. President Obama spent a good bit of his childhood in Indonesia, and has referred to himself as America's first Pacific president.In 2011, he will host the annual meeting of Pacific Rim leaders.   And the president announced in Singapore that he plans to host the gathering in his native state, Hawaii.

Obama Holds Key Talks on Sidelines of APEC

Hot News: As Consumers Trade Down, Champagne Makers Offer Discounts

LONDON – European stock markets awaited direction from Wall Street on Friday despite the news that the recession in the 16-country eurozone was over.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was almost unchanged, down less than a point at 5,275.92 while Germany's DAX fell 12.94 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,651.02. The CAC-40 in France was 10.64 points, or 0.3 percent, lower at 3,797.43.

Meanwhile in the U.S., Dow futures were 14 points, or 0.1 percent, higher at 10,203 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose 2.1 points, or 0.2 percent, at 1,089.40.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks fell by 1 percent as oil prices tumbled and the dollar continued to clamber off recent lows.

"As it stands right now, it would be of little surprise to see something of a sideways drift into the weekend break," said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index.

Many analysts think stocks may claw out more gains if the S&P 500 can close about the 1,100 mark. Despite several attempts this week, it has not been able to sustain a break above that level through the end of the session.

"The question investors are asking now is whether we can eventually push higher...or whether recent congestion is a sign that the rally higher is over," said Geoffrey Yu, an analyst at UBS.

Stocks have rallied strongly since March's lows with many of the world's major indexes trading at, or near, their highest levels this year as investors reined in their economic doomsday expectations to factor in a swifter than anticipated global economic rebound.

News that the 16-country eurozone emerged from recession in the third quarter did little to excite investors as the 0.4 percent quarterly rise was less than many had been anticipating, and as growth in some major economies fell short of forecasts. With a rebound in exports partially offset by weak household spending, Germany's economy grew by 0 payday loans.7 percent and France's by 0.3 percent.

Still, the third quarter rise in eurozone output was the first in six quarters and brings to an end Europe's sharpest recession since World War II. Though the eurozone's banks were not at the epicenter of the financial crisis that triggered the global economic downturn, the region suffered as demand for its high-value products fell off a cliff.

Investors also didn't get too excited by the planned merger of British Airways PLC and Spain's Iberia. Both stocks were up only around 2 percent, though they had rallied strongly in the run-up to the announcement.

Earlier, Asian markets closed mixed amid investor uncertainty about the global outlook after Wall Street's losses on Thursday.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 34.18 points, or 0.4 percent, to 9,770.31 while Seoul's Kospi was off 0.1 percent at 1,571.99. Singapore's market traded flat, while Sydney shed 0.8 percent.

Among rising markets, China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 0.5 percent to 3,187.65, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng recouped its early losses to gain 0.7 percent to 22,553.63.

Oil prices continued to fall in the wake of Thursday's soft U.S. inventory data. Benchmark crude for December delivery was down 27 cents at $76.67 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract tumbled $2.34 to settle at $76.94 on Thursday.

The euro was 0.2 percent higher at $1.4871. Despite the modest advance, the euro is still a ways down from levels earlier this week, when it nearly broke above its 15-month high of $1.5061.

The dollar was 0.6 percent down at 89.76 yen.

__

Associated Press Writers Louise Watt in London and Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.

European stocks steady ahead of Wall Street open

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks added to gains in early trade on Monday, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 rising 1 percent, after a pledge from the Group of 20 to keep economic stimulus in place bolstered risk appetite.

* Gains were broad-based, with natural resource-oriented companies and technology shares among the biggest advancers.

* The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) gained 80.64 points, or 0 payday loans.80 percent, to 10,104.06. The Standard & Poor&&9;s 500 Index (.SPX) rose 9.69 points, or 0.91 percent, to 1,078.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) added 23.34 points, or 1.10 percent, to 2,135.78.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Stocks lifted by revived risk appetite

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) &<51; A Florida yacht broker who admitted filing a false federal tax return and concealing millions of dollars in a secret account at the Swiss bank UBS was sentenced Friday to two months in prison.

Judge James I. Cohn of Federal District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., gave the broker, Robert Moran, credit for immediately confessing his crime and for assisting a broad federal investigation of tax evasion at UBS and other offshore banks. Judge Cohn also noted that Mr. Moran, a British-born United States citizen, had paid the $1.9 million in penalties and back taxes he owed.

But the judge said &S220;the public is weary&S221; of people trying to hide wealth from the Internal Revenue Service and rejected Mr. Moran&S217;s request for a sentence of probation only.

Mr. Moran is scheduled to report to prison Jan. 4. The United States Bureau of Prisons has not yet determined where he will serve his sentence, but Judge Cohn recommended that he be held in southern Florida.

In April, Mr. Moran became the first UBS client in the United States to plead guilty after the Swiss bank provided federal prosecutors with about 150 names of Americans suspected of tax evasion best payday advance. The bank later reached a second agreement that calls for disclosure of 4,450 additional United States taxpayers to the I.R.S.

Mr. Moran is the third former UBS client to be sentenced in the last two weeks in South Florida for filing false tax returns. One got house arrest and the other a short prison term. Seven former clients have been charged in the latest crackdown, and dozens more are under investigation.

Mr. Moran, president of Moran Yacht and Ship, which has offices in Fort Lauderdale and Moscow, will lose his yacht broker&S217;s license because of the felony conviction and faces an uncertain business future, Gary M. Bagliebter, his lawyer, said.

In remarks to the judge, Mr. Moran, 58, accepted full responsibility. He had about $3.5 million in his UBS accounts.

&S220;I&S217;m really sorry for opening this foreign bank account and not disclosing it,&S221; Mr. Moran said. &S220;I realize it was a mistake.&S221;

Yacht Broker Sentenced to 2 Months for Tax Evasion

Hot News: Chinas Premier Pledges $10 billion in Loans to Africa

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks jumped on Thursday, pushing the S&P 500 up for a fourth day, as economic data boosted confidence in the recovery and strong results from Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) suggested a rebound in technology spending.

The market&&9;s advance was broad-based, and the Dow ended above 10,000 for the first time in two weeks.

Shares of Cisco, which makes computer network equipment, rose 2.8 percent to &&6;23.93 and helped lead the session&&9;s gains, a day after it posted a stronger-than-expected profit and said business was recovering.

Data showed U.S. non-farm productivity rose more than expected in the third quarter as companies squeezed more output from a smaller pool of labor. A separate report showed fewer U.S. workers filed new jobless insurance claims than forecast last week -- hitting a 10-month low.

The claims report boosted investor sentiment, and created "some anticipation that maybe tomorrow&&9;s employment report may be better than expected," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

The U.S. government is scheduled to release its key monthly jobs report Friday morning, with economists polled by Reuters forecasting a loss of 175,000 jobs in October, sharply below the 263,000 jobs cut in the previous month. But the U.S. unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 9.9 percent in October from September&&9;s rate of 9.8 percent, which was a 26-year high.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) jumped 203.82 points, or 2.08 percent, to end at 10,005.96. The Standard & Poor&&9;s 500 Index (.SPX) gained 20.13 points, or 1.92 percent, to 1,066.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) rose 49.80 points, or 2.42 percent, to close at 2,105.32.

CAFFEINE SHOT AFTER THE BELL

After the bell, shares of coffee chain operator Starbucks Corp (SBUX business card.O) rose 1.5 percent to &&6;20 as it posted quarterly results.

During the regular session, tech stocks climbed across the board, with the NYSE Arca Network index (.NWX) up 2.1 percent, while the PHLX Semiconductor index (.SOXX) advanced 2.6 percent.

Shares of DuPont (DD.N) rose 3.7 percent to &&6;33.38 after its chief executive outlined plans for growth in 2010 and after.

In deal news, IMS Health Inc (RX.N) agreed to be bought by TPG and CPP Investment board and helped lift the S&P Healthcare index (.GSPA) 1.6 percent. The deal was valued at &&6;5.2 billion, including the assumption of debt. IMS Health shares surged 23.3 percent to &&6;20.73.

On the downside was CVS Caremark Corp (CVS.N) , which tumbled 20.1 percent to &&6;28.87 after comments from Chief Executive Tom Ryan on weakness in the pharmacy benefit management business.

U.S. retail chains reported October sales that rebounded from the lows in the previous year, but more than half missed Wall Street&&9;s increased expectations as consumers spend selectively headed into the holiday season.

The S&P retail index (.RLX) rose 1.8 percent.

Volume was below average on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1.30 billion shares changing hands, below last year&&9;s estimated daily average of 1.49 billion, while on the Nasdaq, about 2.25 billion shares traded, just below last year&&9;s daily average of 2.28 billion.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 5 to 1, while on the Nasdaq, about seven stocks rose for every two that fell.

(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Stocks rally on economic data, Cisco

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy may have turned a corner after the deepest recession in some 70 years, but Federal Reserve policymakers appear to be in no rush to raise interest rates.

The Fed is widely expected to keep its benchmark interest rate where it has been since December -- near zero -- when it meets this week.

With underlying inflation pressures actually decreasing and most Fed officials expecting the recovery to be slow, there is little incentive for the Fed to change its easy money policy.

"Anybody who expects major changes to the Fed&&9;s statement is likely to be disappointed," said Stephen Stanley, U.S. economist at RBS.

Fed officials, who meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, could discuss how they will prepare markets for an eventual policy shift, but analysts say it is too soon for the Fed to even hint toward an exit by tweaking its pledge to keep rates extraordinarily low for an "extended period."

Even as the U.S. economy appears to be still in need of Fed support, the repercussions of emergency monetary policies are being felt around the world.

Brazil has acted to stem the flood of speculative capital to its economy by adopting a 2 percent tax on foreign investment. Other nations have begun to intervene to keep their currencies from rising too sharply against the falling dollar.

Among top Fed officials a debate has broken out about how soon the central bank will need to act to nip inflation in the bud, although none are advocating a move now.

Financial markets will comb through the central bank&&9;s policy statement, which will be released at around 2:15 p.m. EST (1915 GMT) on Wednesday, for any clues on when the easy money period will start drawing to a close.

Most analysts at top U.S. banks expect the Fed&&9;s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee to keep interest rates on hold until mid-2010 or later, though interest-rate futures markets are pricing in an increase earlier in 2010.

The most significant outcomes of the Fed&&9;s last two policy meetings concerned the central bank&&9;s purchases of U.S. government and mortgage-related debt. The Fed stopped buying longer-term Treasury debt last week, while the mortgage-related asset purchase program has been extended into early 2010 to provide for an orderly wind down no fax payday loans.

"Things are going to start to get interesting in 2010, but for the moment they&&9;ve got all their ducks in a row," Stanley said.

GROWTH HAS ARRIVED, BUT JOBS HAVE NOT

The Fed will note that the economy grew in the third quarter, snapping a deep four-quarter plunge and likely ending the U.S. recession. The officials are also likely to repeat there is still enough slack in the economy for inflation not to be an immediate worry.

Last week, data showed U.S. GDP rebounded at a solid 3.5 percent annual pace in the third quarter. A separate report showed inflation, outside of food and energy costs, bumping along at a eight-year low.

The outlook remains uncertain. Much of the third-quarter growth was pinned to government stimulus programs, such as the auto-buying incentives of the "cash for clunkers" program.

U.S. consumers, usually the main driver of activity, are wary. One report on Friday showed consumer spending fell in September for the first time in five months, while another showed consumer sentiment moved lower this month.

The job market also remains a worry. On Friday, the Labor Department&&9;s employment report is expected to show the unemployment rate hit a new 26-year high of 9.9 percent in October.

"What&&9;s transpired since the last meeting is a quarter of positive GDP growth, but I don&&9;t think the projections have changed much going forward and today&&9;s consumer confidence news was not particularly upbeat," Mark Gertler, an economics professor at New York University, said on Friday.

"So all in all, my guess is that the Fed is in a holding pattern right now."

If the Fed were to tweak its "extended period" statement next week, markets would aggressively price in a much swifter policy shift, analysts at Barclays said.

"We do not expect the Fed to want to bring that about until it is more certain it will need to tighten relatively soon," Barclays analysts wrote in a note to clients.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry and Maureen Bavdek)

Fed seen on hold as outlook uncertain

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. economy rose at a pace of 3.5 percent in the third quarter after four consecutive quarters of contraction, reported the Commerce Department on Thursday.

The increase is better than economists' expectation of 3.3 percent, indicating the strongest signal that the worst recession since the 1930s has ended.

The growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property within U personal loan for poor credit.S. borders -- in the July to September quarter was mainly propelled by the government's economic stimulus package.
Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

U.S. economy rises 3.5% in third quarter