Fixed income

In this month's roundup of top banking news: a cease-and-desist issued by the Federal Reserve, high CFO turnover, the end of Chevron deference and more.

Trading halts caused by an error affected 40 stocks Monday morning, including BMO Bank and Banco Santander-Chile.

Orders on the NASDAQ exchange were unable to execute early Monday morning because of an error with the exchange's price discovery tool. The error has since been resolved.

The stock prices of five of these banks fell by more than 7% on the day they announced their fourth-quarter results, including two with double-digit decreases.

Citigroup, Barclays and Morgan Stanley are just a few of the firms joining JPMorgan in what suddenly feels like a rush into direct lending.

The Federal Reserve's vice chair for supervision noted that so-called basis trades by hedge funds are highly leveraged and use minimal haircuts. He added that much of this activity is concentrated among just a few funds.

The lawsuits alleged that banks including Bank of America and Goldman Sachs — acting as remarketing agents on the securities — failed to get the best rates for issuers.

But at the same time, the publicly traded company is selling off another type of housing finance asset to some large depository institutions.

Banks are committing financing for a slew of new deals, while investors clamor for syndicated loans as interest rates rise.

While it's still relatively early to tell how much — if at all — the muni market will be impacted, Kara South, portfolio manager at GW&K Investment Management, said downgrades of certain municipal bonds are likely to follow.