Wall Street Roundup: Skyrocketing pay for hedge-fund chiefs; toxic assets

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Unemployment figure down. The number of newly unemployed dropped 6,000 from a week earlier, according to the Labor Department. The drop, to 439,000 for the week, was a bit more than analysts had expected.

Toxic assets. The Federal Reserve released long-withheld information on assets that it took in during Bear Stearns’ collapse. The data show the central bank took in risky assets so that JPMorgan Chase & Co. would take over Bear Stearns.

Skyrocketing pay. The pay for leading hedge-fund chiefs skyrocketed last year, with several earning more than a billion dollars, according to a new survey from an investing magazine.

-- Nathaniel Popper