Italy saw borrowing costs tick up as it auctioned 5.25 billion euros in debt Monday. Still, Italian yields were well below those of Spain, which also raised money by selling bonds.

Even though Enron as a company no longer exists, there are certain lessons and anecdotes in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room that everyone should see. The epitome of greed, the courage to stand against it, and the cheesy-yet-true revelation that you can never judge a book, or a major corporation, by its cover.

A day after 10-year U.S. Treasury yields hit a 14-month low, bond guru and managing director of Pacific Investment Management Company LLC, Bill Gross, issued a gloomy monthly outlook on market conditions.

Andrew Ross Sorkin speaks to Chicago audience Feb. 9. Photo by Chris Guillen

It was Tuesday evening in Chicago, and though you may have watched him co-host CNBC’s Squawk Box from New York that same morning, there was Andrew Ross Sorkin giving a talk about Wall Street and his new book, “Too [...]

Sheila Bair, FDIC Chairman (New American Foundation/FLICKR)

BY HANNAH KOKJOHN – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Too big to fail? Not if Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair gets her way.

At the 45th Annual Bank Structure and Competition Conference in Chicago on Thursday, Bair advocated reforming the FDIC’s systemic risk program as the best way [...]

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke/Flickr

BY KATE SHELLNUTT – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Unsurprisingly, first question to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke following his keynote address at the Bank Structure and Competition Conference was about this week’s catchphrase, “stress tests.”

After declining to reveal the results of the Fed’s evaluation of the country’s biggest financial institutions [...]

BY KATE SHELLNUTT - MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

The Treasury announced new incentives Tuesday for lenders to modify second mortgages in an effort by the Obama administration to further help troubled borrowers. Mortgage experts say the plan’s expansion, which taps into a $50 billion rescue fund, may not be enough to help the [...]

BY KAREN LEIGH – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

That unending flow of credit card offers and promotions flooding dorm mailboxes might be coming to an end as Illinois state officials crack down on companies that are marketing the cards to college students.

BY KAREN LEIGH – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

We’ve been hearing so much in the news lately about the credit crisis and residential home foreclosures. Now Chicago-area commercial real estate is suffering as the economy sinks further into recession.

In the fourth quarter of 2008 the vacancy rate [...]

BY INYOUNG HWANG – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

New home sales plummeted in December to a record low, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, signaling that the housing crisis is far from over due to the credit crunch and surplus of homes.

Sales of new single-family houses were at a [...]