Business Briefing

Fed ordered to reveal loan data

The Federal Reserve must reveal documents identifying financial companies that received Fed loans to survive the financial crisis, a federal appeals court ruled.

A panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said in two separate opinions that such information isn’t automatically exempt from requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

Cases were brought by News Corp.’s Fox News Network and Bloomberg. The two companies sought details about loans that commercial banks and Wall Street firms received and the collateral they put up. The appeals judges had received written arguments on behalf of other news agencies.

The Fed argued that if it identified banks that drew emergency loans, it could cause a run on those institutions, undermine the loan programs and potentially hurt the economy.

UNEMPLOYMENT

Small effect in four big cities

Call them the Final Four: the four large cities that have made it through the Great Recession with the smallest increases in unemployment.

Minneapolis, Oklahoma City and Rochester and Buffalo in New York don’t have much else in common. But a government report shows they’ve had the smallest increases in joblessness over the last two years among cities with at least 1 million people.

None of the four relies on heavy manufacturing industries, such as autos or steel, which have been hit hard by the downturn.

And all have avoided the extremes of the housing boom and bust that devastated much of California, Florida and Nevada.

Overall, unemployment rose in nearly all 372 metro areas in January, the Labor Department said, because the weak recovery hasn’t spurred much hiring.

FINANCE

Shutdowns add to bank failures

Regulators have shut seven banks in five states, bringing to 37 the number of bank failures in the U.S. so far this year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over First Lowndes Bank, in Fort Deposit, Ala.; Appalachian Community Bank, in Ellijay, Ga.; Bank of Hiawassee, in Hiawassee, Ga.; and State Bank of Aurora, in Aurora, Minn.

The agency also said it had shut Advanta Bank Corp., based in Draper, Utah; American National Bank of Parma, Ohio; and Century Security Bank of Duluth, Ga.

-- times wire reports