Market Updates: Citigroup (NYSE: C), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT)

Wall Street lobbyists stormed Capitol Hill November 9th hoping to convince Representative Paul Kanjorski’s staff that his plan to dismantle large financial firms was a bad idea. They walked out with a sobering conclusion that not only was Kanjorski serious, he planned to offer the legislation as early as next week that just might pass. Today marks a decade since the repeal of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act that split investment-banking from lending and deposit-taking. The repeal allowed the creation of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) the financial colossus now propped up by $45 billion in taxpayer rescue funds. Financial firms are scrambling to prevent Congress from re-imposing the act. Lawmakers are considering breakup proposals after public outcry over the $700 billion rescue of firms including Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and American International Group (NYSE: AIG). Congress passed Glass-Steagall in 1933 after speculative activities by many banks brought the system close to collapse. One result was that Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, split off from what is now JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM). “You don’t ever want to be in the situation again where something is too big to fail,” Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The Connecticut Democrat, who unveiled a regulatory overhaul proposal this week, said the government should have the power to break apart large institutions “as a very last resort.” -Bloomberg

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) reported a higher quarterly profit as the world’s biggest retailer clamped down on inventory and controlled expenses, but forecast earnings over the key holiday quarter that could miss estimates. Wal-Mart forecast fourth-quarter earnings per share from continuing operations of $1.08 to $1.12 and stated domestic comparable-store sales during the 13 weeks from October 31 to the end of January would be flat. Analysts on average were expecting earnings of $1.12/share. Profit for the third quarter ended October 31 rose to $3.23 billion, or 84 cents/ share, from $3.14 billion, or 80 cents/share, a year earlier. –Reuters

The number of homeowners on the brink of losing their homes dipped in October, the third straight monthly decline, as foreclosure prevention programs helped more borrowers. But foreclosure filings are still up 19 percent from a year ago, and rising job losses continue to threaten the stabilizing trend. More than 332,000 households, or one in every 385 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice in October, such as a notice of default or trustee’s sale. That’s down 3 percent from September. Banks repossessed more than 77,000 homes last month, down from nearly 88,000 homes in September. –Daily Finance

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hailed a commitment by Asia-Pacific ministers to flexible exchange rates even as his Chinese counterpart praised the yuan’s peg for helping the global recovery. Finance ministers from the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group pledged policies favoring “market-oriented exchange rates that reflect underlying economic fundamentals,” in a joint statement after gathering in Singapore today. The statement comes three days before U.S. President Barack Obama arrives in China with an agenda that includes the yuan. –Bloomberg

Governments around the world stepped up efforts to stem the U.S. dollar’s slide, as officials grow increasingly concerned about the impact of the weak greenback on their nascent economic recoveries. Thailand, South Korea, Russia and the Philippines have been grabbing dollars this week in order to hold down the value of their currencies, traders said yesterday, as the USD stumbled near 15-month lows. In Latin America, Brazil’s finance minister stated that the country’s currency remained too strong, sparking speculation that the government would intensify recent efforts to curb the real’s ascent. –The Wall Street Journal

-Jutia Group