The end of a Federal Reserve program that helped unlock credit markets is spurring sales of asset- backed bonds with relative yields five times wider than on debt secured by car loans. The expiration of the Fed’s Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility is driving companies to sell bonds tied to loans that would otherwise require higher yields. The bonds offer investors higher relative yields because the collateral is considered riskier. Ally Bank’s sale of AAA debt backed by floorplans may yield 1.75 percentage points more than swap rates, compared with a spread of 0.35 percentage point for top-rated auto-loan bonds, according to Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) data. -Bloomberg
Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) is selling its online help-wanted site, HotJobs, to rival Monster Worldwide (NYSE:MWW) for $225 million in cash. Yahoo bought HotJobs for $439 million in 2002. -Daily Finance
U.S. firms expanded their employees’ working hours in the fourth quarter for the first time since the recession began in 2007 as the rate of productivity improvement slowed to 6.2%, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. Productivity in the nonfarm business sector increased at a 6.2% annualized rate, down from a 7.2% rate in the third quarter. Output rose 7.2% and hours worked increased 1.0%. The increase in hours worked was the first since the second quarter of 2007. -MarketWatch
Concerns about the fiscal position of European countries are giving the dollar a lift this morning. The U.S. dollar index — a trade-weighted basket heavily tilted toward the euro — is up about 0.3% early. That could be a weight on U.S. stocks, especially energy issues, as crude seems to be selling off in response. While the woes of Greece are nothing new to the markets, much is being made today about the concerns spreading to the debt of other strained nations. A group of these countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) have come to be referred to by a none-too-flattering nickname: the “PIIGS.” Market watchers are keeping an especially close eye on the spreads — that is the difference gap — between the yield on PIIGS debt and the yields on the super-safe European benchmark, German bonds. (Simply put, the wider the gap, the bigger the market’s concern.) -The Wall Street Journal
MasterCard (NYSE:MA) reported higher fourth-quarter net income of $294.4 million, or $2.24 a share, on 6% higher revenue of $1.3 billion. Analysts had forecast earnings of $2.46 a share, on average. Shares dropped 2.8% ahead of the bell. And in other news, Visa (NYSE:V) domination of debit cards in the U.S. has helped boost its revenue to $2 billion, and earnings to $763 million, or $1.02 per share, during an economic downturn when consumers have been reluctant to spend on non-essential purchases. The company handily beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations of 91 cents a share in earnings on revenue of $1.92 billion. Shares rose 2.5% in premarket trading. -Daily Finance
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