U.S. taxpayers may collect $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion for Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) warrants demanded by the Treasury Department in exchange for bailout money. “This sale will be among the biggest,” said Bernard Chriqui, vice president of equity derivatives trading at Nomura Securities International Inc., who provided the estimate. The firm may adjust the range after results are reported from yesterday’s auction of warrants for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), the nation’s second-biggest lender behind Bank of America. More on this story here. –Bloomberg
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday that the government doesn’t want banks to repay taxpayer support if that leaves them short on capital. "We are not prepared to have this money come back in a way that would leave the system or these institutions with inadequate capital to face their challenges ahead," he said during a Congressional Oversight Panel hearing on the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. But for Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) that may not be a problem, analysts said Thursday. Citi reportedly plans to raise $20 billion selling new equity to help the giant bank buy back trust preferred securities it sold to the government via TARP. See about Citi’s possible TARP exit. -MarketWatch
China has overtaken the U.S. as the world’s largest car market. The Associated Press reports that research firm JP Power expects China’s light vehicle sales will be 12.7 million in 2009, up 44% from the previous year. U.S. car and light truck sales will be only 10.3 million. Four years ago, American vehicles sales topped 16 million. –Daily Finance
U.S. retail sales rose in November nearly twice as much as expected, making a broad-based increase that suggested consumers were buying aggressively and supporting the economy in the holiday shopping season. Retail sales rose 1.3% last month, the Commerce Department said Friday. Wall Street had predicted a 0.7% increase. October sales were revised down, to a 1.1% increase from a previously estimated 1.4% increase. –The Wall Street Journal
Politicians and economists are forever coming up with new ideas to lower the national debt which is now more than $12 trillion and growing rapidly. The New York Times reports that the idea of a national sales tax or value added tax is back on the table as a way to offset rising deficits. As the paper points out, a sales tax is unlikely to have the many exemptions that the US income tax does. 24/7 Wall Street
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