From MarketWatch:

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Most Asian markets ended lower Wednesday, as concerns China may step up its tightening measures to cool a rapidly growing economy hit banking and resource shares hard.

Several other regional markets also reversed direction or pared early gains made after a strong finish on Wall Street, after the Chinese banking regulator said the nation’s banks were expected to make fewer loans this year than in 2009. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.3% each, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended 0.1% up — well off the day’s high.  Link to article…

Here is one that piques my interest from The NY Times and CNBC:

President Obama on Tuesday stepped into the middle of a fierce lobbying battle by reinforcing his support for an independent agency to protect consumers against lending abuses that contributed to the financial crisis. The president’s move also signaled a tougher line and a more direct role as Congress weighs an overhaul of banking regulation.

The financial industry and Congressional Republicans have singled out the administration’s proposed consumer agency in particular, hoping to greatly weaken if not kill it. With liberal Democrats and Web commentators fighting just as hard for a strong independent office, the issue is becoming the central flashpoint in the debate over regulation.  Link to article…

Quite a healthy skewering of the banking executives here on The Daily Show that I thought was worth passing on.  Huge bonuses for our “fragile” banks are an awfully counter-intuitive proposition.  But if you don’t pay the huge bonuses, you may lose the best talent, ”like professional athletes or movie stars,” says one commenter from Goldman Sachs. 

Stewart replies, ”I guess the only real difference between bankers and movie stars is that when Nic Cage lost all his money I didn’t have to bail him out!”   

See the video here.

MBS- FNMA 4.5 price: 101-05 closed.

10-yr Treasury Yield: 3.55% closed.

Well, it appears SOMEBODY in Washington gets it:

House Passes Far-Reaching Bill Tightening Financial Rules:

The vote is the most significant legislative act to confront the financial crisis that exploded last year since the vast and costly bailout that was rammed through Congress at the peak of the emergency. It was an effort to address comprehensively what many of the bill’s supporters have called the underlying causes of the collapse — reckless risk-taking unrestrained by regulation.  Link to article…

But was the legislation mutilated by industry lobbying, leaving it ”riddled with loopholes“?   

The bond market and many lenders were closed today so it was a chance for me to catch up on some reading for the most part.  But interspersed between segments of the day I definitely found myself thinking about veterans.  My grandfather was a veteran of WWII, and he became a career Air Force man after that.  Like most veterans of wars, he never talked much of the war’s terrible toll.  Instead he chose to tell stories such as how he met my grandmother in Norwich, England.  Good times were there too, and I am sure it’s far more appealing to think of them when talking to your grandson. 

I don’t have a long-winded bit to say today, but I did want to mention what’s written on the medal my grandfather received from serving in WWII.  It hangs in my office because I thought the significance of it was substantial, both as an heirloom for me and also as a measure for me to keep perspective in trying times.  With a band around the perimeter of the medallion that says United States of America 1941-1945, here is what it says:

FREEDOM

FROM FEAR AND WANT

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

AND RELIGION

All I really want to say to the veterans is THANKS.