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Citigroup's direct involvement in shaping a House bill suggests it feels that it should work behind the scenes to shape legislation for its benefit. Fears about its bottom line may have been what stirred it.

It's been a wild ride across the Pacific this week. China's downbeat economic data and concerns over the future of America's quantitative easing sent Asian markets into free fall on Thursday, capped off by the Nikkei's 7.3% plunge that day alone. Japan's leading index clawed back some of its losses Friday to end the week down 3.5%, but the loss was a reminder of just how young and fragile the Japanese market's recovery is. Investors have thrived so far under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's easy-money plan, but one dose of fear this week sent the market into turmoil. A temporary adjustment to the year's big gainsMuch of Thursday's gains were due to investors looking to cash out on Japan's rise as the first hints of doubt arose in the markets. The Nikkei has risen more than 40% year to date, far outpacing other markets around the globe, and it's only natural for a correction to set in after such a swift rise. Japan's government certainly thought so, with Cabinet Office Senior Vice President Yasutoshi Nishimura calling the dip a "temporary adjustment" when speaking to Reuters. Don't let Thursday's downturn alter your investment thesis significantly. While China's manufacturing data may have disappointed, the weak yen should continue to fuel Japanese exports, even if Chinese growth continues to slow. While investors panicked about America's stimulus potentially slowing this year, there are no signs of Japan's easy-money atmosphere ending: With Abe angling for 2% inflation and the Bank of Japan set out to double the country's money supply, expect stimulus to dominate Japan's near future. The Japanese economy has already responded well, posting 3.5% annualized growth in the first quarter. Japan still has a long way to go before it reaches steady growth after decades of stagnation. Consumer prices are also rising due to aggressive easing, which could hurt consumption in the long run despite a 5.5% year-over-year increase in spending per household in March. Still, aggressive easing should continue to keep interest rates low and promote investment, which indicates that the best could be yet to come for investors. The best certainly hasn't come this week in the financial sector, however. Financial stocks have surged in Japan on stimulus optimism, but fears over its future have blasted this sector's best over the last five days. Nomura Holdings , one of the biggest victims of investor fear, fell 11.5% over the course of the week. Nomura has done well lately on the back of easy money and is preparing to increase sales staff in Europe, Asia, and the Americas to boost profitability overseas. While investors have panicked over Thursday's drop and bailed out of Nomura's stock, this is one financial firm looking strong. Like the Nikkei, Nomura has been a victim of its own success this year: With the stock's 42% year-to-date rise, a correction was bound to occur. Mitsubishi UFJ also plunged in the Japanese financial sector's sell-off, with the firm's stock dropping 12.3% over the week. This firm faced more of a threat from Thursday's action, however: Japan's benchmark bond yield climbed to its highest level in more than a year, and Mitsubishi is the largest lender by assets in the country and holds more than 48 million yen in government bonds. Bond yields are still coming off of record lows, so Mitsubishi's hardly in a dangerous place. The firm's attempts to expand recently may also help boost revenue at a company that posted declining net income in its most recent quarter. Even with the losses late in the week, not all Japanese firms suffered as badly as the financial sector. While Sony faced a significant sell-off on Thursday and Friday, the stock posted a huge rise on Tuesday in response to competitor Microsoft's unveiling of its Xbox One console. Sentiment was mixed regarding Microsoft's new entertainment device, causing some to wonder whether Sony's competing PlayStation 4 may have a leg up on its rival in the next generation of entertainm

After an impressive run last week, Bank of America is ending this week down almost 2%. Though the first few days of trading were looking up for the bank, some troubling news and speculation killed B of A's chances of gaining more. Though forces outside the bank may be pressuring the share price lower, there is still good news for BAC investors to take with them on the holiday weekend. When the man speaks, you listenFed Chairman Ben Bernanke provided the first taste of economic news for the week on Wednesday when he testified in front of the Joint Economic Committee in Congress. Basically repeating the same line we've heard since the latest FOMC meeting, the committee will adjust the current stimulus policy once there are concrete signs that the economy continues to improve. He specifically mentioned the labor market, which was the target of the bond buyback program's aide to the overall economy. More than just Bernanke's voice have spoken out saying the same thing, but also adding that the committee would adjust in either direction should an initial change cause the economy to slow or contract. Banks were boosted right after the testimony made its way through the airwaves and headlines, but by the end of trading, most of the banks were down. International affairsBank of America generates approximately 4% of its revenue in the Asian markets, so the impact of Thursday's news that the Japanese markets had dropped suddenly hit the bank pretty hard. But investors soon realized that the bottom-line impact of a softening Asian market wouldn't hurt B of A greatly because of its diverse operations, and the stock price gained back most of its early losses. Trimming branchesToday the bank hovered around the break-even point, with a few trips here and there. Ending the day in positive territory was a move in the right direction for the bank, and likely due to the news that B of A is still eyeing up places where it can trim expenses and become leaner. Since 2010, when CEO Brian Moynihan took the top seat at the bank, BAC has shed more than 600 bank branches. Another 40 are on the chopping block, all in New York or Pennsylvania. With deposits totaling $1 billion, the branches could fetch a cool $20-$30 million for Bank of America, which would keep servicing the loan accounts. Though this week was a disappointing one by itself, long-term investors should have no problems with the bank heading into the Memorial Day weekend. Not only is B of A keeping up with its priorities, but it's also providing some great returns in the process. It may have lost 1.96% this week, but it's up 7.31% in the last month, and 9.81% year to date.Indeed, Bank of America's stock doubled in 2012. Is there more yet to come? With significant challenges still ahead, it's critical to have a solid understanding of this megabank before adding it to your portfolio. In The Motley Fool's premium research report on B of A, analysts Anand Chokkavelu, CFA, and Matt Koppenheffer, Financials bureau chief, lift the veil on the bank's operations, including detailing three reasons to buy and three reasons to sell. Click here now to claim your copy.

The Edison Electrical Institute (EEI), an 80-year-old organization of U.S. shareholder-owned electric companies, announced its finalists for its 2013 Edison Award this week. With leadership, innovation, and progress as the criteria, let's take a look at their top two publicly traded picks to see if there might be growth opportunities in this dividend stock sector. American Electric Power AEP  elated EEI with the successful completion of its "clean coal" John Turk, Jr. Power Plant. The 600 MW $1.7 billion facility is no small investment, but this dividend stock expects it to pay dividends in the coming years. With its "advanced ultra-supercritical steam cycle technology" (an award-attracting name if I've ever heard one), the facility will squeeze more power (39% efficiency) out of low-sulfur coal to keep carbon emissions to a minimum. Source: AEP.com.  While the technology itself is impressive, EEI's notes on the finalist hint that regulatory battles may have been the real win for this utility. The Institute's press release notes that "AEP successfully navigated seven years of construction, scheduling, and legal and regulatory challenges by utilizing innovative project management techniques and effective communication, negotiation, and advocacy to finish the new power plant." NextEra Energy Balancing old energy with new, EEI's other publicly traded finalist is NextEra Energy , the nation's largest producer of renewable energy. The institute gave kudos to NextEra for its 1,500 MW of new wind commissions in the past year, a move that is contributing substantially to wind power's increasing production. The utility operates more than 100 wind facilities across the country and is constantly looking to increase efficiency through economies of scale and technological advancements. When General Electric  announced two weeks ago that it had created the largest, most efficient wind turbine to date, NextEra ordered up 59 for its newest farm. Source: nexteraenergyresources.com; NextEra wind farms.  Although the dividend stock now has more than 10,000 MW in wind commissions, it's balancing its renewables portfolio with nuclear generation. EEI also applauded NextEra for the successful completion of a multiyear, multisite, multibillion-dollar uprate project. The modernization efforts added 500 MW to NextEra's nuclear capacity, exceeding expectations by 25%. The uprates equate to an 8.5% increase in nuclear capacity, or a 1.2% increase in NextEra's overall 42,000 MW portfolio. Do awards = earnings?Dividend stocks have been on a tear for most of 2013, with the Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Index hitting 18% gains at the start of May. But as worries over overvaluation have crept into the sector, gains have headed down this month. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average  is currently clocking 16.8% gains for 2013, utilities are reduced to a 12.5% rise. ^DJUSUT data by YCharts.  And although AEP and NextEra are hovering above other utilities, their shares also took a dip this month. NEE data by YCharts. Awards aren't going to guarantee earnings overnight, but EEI's finalists point to fundamentals that any individual investor should seek out in their dividend stock picks. Leadership, innovation, and progress point to underpinnings of potentially exceptional companies, regardless of coal, wind, or nuclear specializations. Investors can ignore the pomp and circumstance, but taking note of EEI's awards is another point for a well-informed portfolio. Awards aside, NextEra isn't alone in its nuclear notions. As the nation moves increasingly toward clean energy, Exelon is perfectly positioned to capitalize on having the largest nuclear fleet in North America. This strength, combined with an increased focus on balance sheet health and its recent merger with Constellation, places Exelon and its resized dividend on a shortlist of the top utilities. To determine if Exelon is a good long-term fit for your portfolio, you're invited to check out The Motley Fool'

Propane gas provider Ferrellgas Partners  announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.50 per share, the same rate it's paid every quarter for the last 75 quarters. The board of directors said the quarterly dividend is payable on June 14 to the holders of record at the close of business on June 7.  The regular dividend payment equates to a $2.00-per-share annual dividend, yielding 9.5% based on the closing price of Gap's stock on May 23. FGP Dividend data by YCharts

NRG Energy, Inc. Announces Redemption of GenOn Energy, Inc.'s Outstanding 7.625% Senior Notes Due 2014 PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- NRG Energy, Inc. (NYS: NRG) , today announced that GenOn Energy, Inc. ("GenOn"), one of its wholly owned subsidiaries, has given the required notice under the governing indenture to redeem for cash all of GenOn's remaining 7.625% Senior Notes due 2014 (the "2014 Notes") on June 24, 2013 (the "Redemption Date"). The redemption price for the 2014 Notes will be 100% of the principal amount of the 2014 Notes, plus the Applicable Premium, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the Redemption Date. This press release is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy, the solicitation of an offer to sell or a solicitation of consents with respect to, any of the 2014 Notes. About NRG NRG is at the forefront of changing how people think about and use energy. We deliver cleaner and smarter energy choices for our customers, backed by the nation's largest independent power generation portfolio of fossil fuel, nuclear, solar and wind facilities. A Fortune 500 company, NRG is challenging the U.S. energy industry by becoming the largest developer of solar power, building the first privately-funded electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and providing customers with the most advanced smart energy solutions to better manage their energy use. In addition to 47,000 megawatts of generation capacity, enough to supply nearly 40 million homes, our retail electricity providers - Reliant, Green Mountain Energy and Energy Plus - serve more than two million customers. More information is available at www.nrgenergy.com. Connect with NRG Energy on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @nrgenergy. Forward-Looking Statements This communication contains forward-looking statements that may state NRG's or its management's intentions, beliefs, expectations or predictions for the future. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and typically can be identified by the use of words such as "will," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "forecast," "plan," "believe" and similar terms. Although NRG believes that its expectations are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct, and actual results may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated above include, among others, risks and uncertainties related to the capital markets generally. The foregoing review of factors that could cause NRG's actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in the forward-looking statements included herein should be considered in connection with information regarding risks and uncertainties that may affect NRG's future results included in NRG's filings with the SEC at www.sec.gov. NRG Energy, Inc.Media:Karen Cleeve, 609-524-4608orDavid Knox, 713-537-2130orInvestors:Chad Plotkin, 609-524-4526orAndy Davis, 609-524-4527KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  New JerseyINDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

LONDON -- Sometimes, you just gotta have it. That's how I feel about in-form fashion retailer Burberry . I'm not talking about its scarves and handbags, its trench coats and iconic checks. I want it as an accessory for my portfolio. Burberry looks like the summer's must-have fashion stock. Burberry has been the height of investment style for a number of seasons. Its share price is up a swanky 140% over the past three years, against 33% for the FTSE 100 as a whole. It did briefly fall out of fashion last year, but has shrugged off fears over a Chinese hard landing to rebound 24% over the past six months. Better still, Burberry has just posted a funky set of preliminary full-year results, with record revenue and growth. Group revenue rose 8% to 2 billion pounds, while adjusted profit before tax was up 14% to 428 million pounds. Loyal investors will have applauded management's 16% full-year dividend hike to 29 pence per share. Stocks and frocksOne item caused a bit of a stink. Burberry incurred an 83 million-pound charge following the termination of its fragrance and beauty license with Interparfums. That hit reported profit before tax, which fell 4% to 351 million pounds. Investors have also wrinkled their noses at the smell of fear emanating from French-based fashion rivals LVMH and PPR, which have both complained of sluggish growth in China. Yet Burberry is doing fine in Asia-Pacific, with revenue up 14% to to 745 million pounds, compared to just 1.4% in Europe to 560 million pounds, and 6.6% in the Americas to 463 million pounds. China's still gotta have it. Burberry is also a wow on social media. Its 15 million fans make it the most followed luxury brand on Facebook. Some investors don't do fashion. They would rather gaze at a company balance sheet than a catwalk. They don't want to submit their portfolio to swings and fads. But they're wrong. Fashion is forever. Whenever people have cash to spare (and many still do, especially in Asia), they will want to show it off. Burberry has been the beneficiary. Check this outLike those French fashionistas, I am a little worried about a China slowdown. Brands can fall out of favor, austerity chic could still win the day. My biggest concern is that the valuation is looking pricey at 21 times earnings, while the forecast yield is a plodding 2.2% (although 2.4 times cover suggests scope for further double-digit hikes). Happily, earnings per share (EPS) growth of 9% to March 31, 2014 and 13% the following year look pretty cool to me. Credit Suisse has just upped its target price from 15.50 pounds to 16 pounds and maintained its outperform rating. Right now, you can buy Burberry for 15 pounds. If that's a little out of your price range, current market turbulence suggests you could pick it up cheaper in a summer sale. Burberry is cool, but it isn't cool enough to feature in our special report "5 Shares to Retire On." This free report by Motley Fool share analysts names five FTSE 100 favorites to secure your retirement. To find out more, download this report now. It won't cost you a penny, so click here. link

LONDON -- When weighing up a potential investment, it's useful to look forward rather than backward. If you buy a stake in a business, it's the future profits that count -- and the stock market will value your shares based on future expectations. With that in mind, it can be helpful to review what expert City analysts are expecting a company to earn in the coming years. These expectations can be compared to the share price, to give you a better idea of how the stock market is valuing the business. Today, I'm looking at the earnings per share (EPS) forecasts for Diageo  , which owns the famous Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, and Guinness brands. All my figures are courtesy of S&P Capital IQ. Analysts expect Diageo to earn 1.03 pence per share this year. Which means that compared to today's share price of 2,018 pence, the market is valuing Diageo's shares on a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 19.5. Out of 34 expert forecasts, the lowest estimate for 2013 profits comes in at 1 pound per share, while the highest is 1.12 pounds. With a fairly tight range, it seems analysts are confident in the stability of the Diageo's earnings. The consensus then calls for consecutive years of growth in Diageo's profits, to 1.14 pounds per share in 2014 and then 1.26 pounds in 2015. This would represent annualized growth of 10% per year. The data indicates Diageo's revenues could grow 7% annually over the same time period, from 10.7 billion pounds today to over 13 billion pounds by 2015. These strong growth assumptions, factoring in improving margins and sales in emerging markets, explain why the market is happy to attach a strong "quality premium" to Diageo's shares. But are investors right to pay more for Diageo's iconic alcoholic brands, or is the market drunk on optimism? Whether these projections and the current valuation make the shares of Diageo "fairly priced" is for you to decide. But if you already own shares in Diageo and are looking for alternative investment opportunities, in this exclusive wealth report I've helped pinpoint five particularly attractive possibilities. Indeed, all five opportunities offer a mix of robust prospects, illustrious histories and dependable dividends, and have just been declared by the Fool as "5 Shares You Can Retire On." Just click here to download the exclusive report -- it's completely free of charge. link

LONDON -- To me, capital growth and dividend income are equally important. Together, they provide the total return from any share investment and, as you might expect, my aim is to invest in companies that can beat the total return delivered by the wider market. To put that aim into perspective, the FTSE 100 has provided investors with a total return of around 3% per annum since January 2008. Quality and valueIf my investments are to outperform, I need to back companies that score well on several quality indicators, and buy at prices that offer decent value. This series aims to identify appealing FTSE 100 investment opportunities and, during recent weeks, I've looked at National Grid , Anglo American , HSBC Holdings , Imperial Tobacco Group , and British Sky Broadcasting Group . This is how they scored on my total-return-potential indicators (each score in the table is out of a maximum of five): Share National Anglo HSBC Imperial BSkyB Dividend cover 3 4 3 3 4 Borrowings 3 4 2 1 4 Growth 4 2 2 3 5 Price to earnings 2 4 4 4 2 Outlook 5 3 5 3 4 Total (out of 25) 17 17 16 14 19 Energy supplyU.K.-gas-and-electricity-transmission-systems custodian National Grid needs to balance capital expenditure, regulatory compliance, and loan-interest payments to turn a profit. The industry is highly regulated, but cash flows are solid, and should continue to filter down into steadily rising dividends, which are an important component of total returns. I'm looking to buy on the share-price dips. ResourcesThanks to weaker commodity prices, last year was difficult for Anglo American. The firm is well diversified, focusing on platinum group metals, diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore, metallurgical and thermal coal; but any investor thinking of buying the shares must take a view on where commodity prices might be going. My view is neutral, and that makes Anglo insufficiently tempting for me to buy right now. BankingHSBC achieved an almost 22% increase in its core tier 1 capital ratio to 12.3% during 2012. That's good progress since the 7% it achieved in 2008. By selling off badly performing areas of its business, reorganizing its operations, cutting costs, and focusing its investment capital, the bank has positioned itself for growth in the emerging markets that it targets. The outlook is positive, and I'm tempted to buy for the dividend, which is running at a forward yield of about 5%. TobaccoA recent 22.7% drop in earnings per share, a 9.7% decline in operating profit, and a 4.2% revenue contraction make me nervous about Imperial Tobacco. Industry volumes are in long-term decline, and recent results may presage more-difficult times ahead for a company that investors have become used to seeing as a steady growth proposition. The firm's share-repurchase program helps earnings per share to advance, but I'm not tempted to buy the shares despite the projected 5.4% dividend yield. Satellite broadcastingThanks to factors such as rapid growth in subscriptions to Internet-connected HD satellite TV boxes, up 35% to 2.3 million in the last quarter alone, and a 500% increase in year on year on-demand downloads to an average of 4.5 million a week, BSkyB's earnings have been advancing. The subscription model generates reliable cash flow from generally loyal customers. Such steady growth is encouraging, and makes me optimistic about the company's ability to deliver decent investor total returns from here. I'm watching, and may buy if the valuation eases further. What now?It can be tough deciding which shares to buy for decent on-going total returns. But a new Motley Fool report prepared by our top analysts highlights five shares with seemingly impregnable, moat-like financial characteristics. The report, "5 Shares to Retire On," presents five shares that deserve consideration for any investor aiming to build wealth in the long run. For a limited period, the report i

Filed under: Financial Reform, U.S. Government, BanksGetty Images A dispatch from the Dodd-Frank wars in our nation's capital: Big banks seeking to roll back financial reform have returned to lawmakers' good graces -- not just Republicans, who opposed the regulatory bill in the first place, but many Democrats, too. The New York Times reports that a bill recently approved by the House Financial Services Committee, despite opposition from the Treasury Department, "was essentially Citigroup's (C)": In a sign of Wall Street's resurgent influence in Washington, Citigroup's recommendations were reflected in more than 70 lines of the House committee's 85-line bill. Two crucial paragraphs, prepared by Citigroup in conjunction with other Wall Street banks, were copied nearly word for word. (Lawmakers changed two words to make them plural.) Citigroup was the megabank that received the most taxpayer assistance during the financial crisis, a fact perhaps related to the very same lobbying practices now being used to rein in regulation: According to Reuters, a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in 2011 found that "The more aggressively a bank lobbied before the financial crisis, the worse its loans performed during the economic downturn -- and the more bailout dollars it received". Now, despite its former status as the basket case of Wall Street, Citigroup and its hired guns are welcome on Capitol Hill, weighing in on and even drafting bills -- like one the House committee signed off on earlier this month, exempting several classes of derivatives from a rule intended to prevent government insurance from backstopping risky trades. Sponsored Links In addition to crafting new legislation, bank lobbyists have for the last three years been targeting the regulatory entities tasked with figuring out how to implement the exiting law. The campaign against Dodd-Frank, in other words, is a pincer movement, coordinated and methodical. Its success so far is striking: Of the 398 rules the legislation requires, only 153 have been finalized, according to the Times. Republicans, as mentioned, never liked Dodd-Frank, but House Democrats seem to have undergone a shift on the issue. While Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, opposed the change to derivatives regulation, most other Democrats on the committee supported it. One self-evident reason why: That committee is an obvious focus for Wall Street's political operations when it comes to campaign contributions. One of its members, and a magnet for bank money, was quite open about this to the Times, offering one of the more remarkable quotes by a denizen of Congress in recent memory: "I won't dispute for one second the problems of a system that demands immense amount of fund-raisers by its legislators," said Representative Jim Himes, a third-term Democrat of Connecticut, who supported the recent industry-backed bills and leads the party's fund-raising efforts in the House. A member of the Financial Services Committee and a former banker at Goldman Sachs, he is one of the top recipients of Wall Street donations. "It's appalling, it's disgusting, it's wasteful and it opens the possibility of conflicts of interest and corruption. It's unfortunately the world we live in." The Occupiers and the good governance advocates will have to find new rhetoric: fatalism aside, theirs has been appropriated by an embodiment of what they denounce. %Gallery-189106% Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments