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Special Report: Global Financial Crisis


·Wall Street rebounded strongly Tuesday, Dow Jones going back above 6,900 points.
·Citigroup jumped more than 38 percent and led financials higher.
·Bernanke Tuesday laid out his financial regulation reform strategy.


NEW YORK, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street rebounded strongly on Tuesday with all major indexes gaining more than 5 percent and Dow Jones going back above 6,900 points. Financials led the way up.

In an internal memo sent to employees on Monday evening, Vikram Pandit, Chief Executive Officer of Citigourp, said the bank had an operating profit of 8.3 billion U.S. dollars before taxes and one-time charges through February, which is the bank's best performance since the third quarter of 2007.

Citigroup jumped more than 38 percent and led financials higher, as investors speculated that the worst of the banking crisis is over.

Moreover, Chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank said on Tuesday that he is hopeful the Securities and Exchange Commission would reimpose the "uptick" rule in about a month. The rule is expected to slow the pace of short selling and help calm volatile markets.

Also on Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged to review regulatory policies and accounting rules to ensure that they do not induce excessive swings in the financial system, in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Dow Jones rallied 379.44, or 5.8 percent, to 6,926.49. Broader indexes also gained ground. The Standard & Poor's 500 index jumped 43.07, or 6.37 percent, to 719.60; and the Nasdaq surged 89.64, or 7.07 percent, to 1,358.28.


U.S. Treasury invests another $284.7 mln in 22 banks

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Treasury Department has made another investment of 284.7 million dollars in 22 "healthy" banks from the 700-billion-dollar financial bailout package, the department said on Tuesday.

The Treasury said that so far a total of 489 banks in 47 U.S. states and Puerto Rico had received over 197 billion dollars in support. To date, the largest investment was 25 billion dollars and the smallest investment was approximately 1 million dollars. Full story

Pelosi says Congress open to second stimulus plan

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday that the Congress was open to introducing a second stimulus plan to revive the ailing economy.

"It will take a little time to get going, some of it's already in the works, but we must give it time to work," said Pelosi, referring to the 787-billion-dollar stimulus package approved last month.

"You have to keep the door open to see how this goes," she told reporters following a House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee hearing on the economy. Full story

Bernanke lays out financial regulation reform strategy

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday laid out his financial regulation reform strategy, urging an overhaul of the U.S. system.

"We must have a strategy that regulates the financial system as a whole, in a holistic way, not just its individual components," Bernanke said in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations. Full story

Citigroup profitable through February: CEO

NEW YORK, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Citigroup's key capital ratios were strong and it was profitable in the first two months of 2009,the troubled bank's CEO Vikram Pandit said in an internal memo sent to staff Monday evening.

"In fact, we are profitable through the first two months of 2009 and are having our best quarter-to-date performance since the third quarter of 2007," Pandit told his employees, according to New York Times which obtained a copy of the memo. Full story




Editor: Yan