AmericanExpress (AXP.N) forecast better business in the second half ofthe year, pushing its stock up 11.3 percent to $27.22. Fordetails, see [ID:nN15343757] Optimism was further reinforced by manufacturing data thatsuggested the recession is abating, as well as minutes fromthe Federal Reserve’s most recent policy-setting meeting thatshowed officials judged that the U.S economy’s contractionwas slowing. The broad S&P 500 has gained 6.1 percent so far this week,its best three days since the rally began in March, ascompanies, including Intel and Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N),posted much better-than-expected results. stocks racked up stronggains on Wednesday, sparked by results from bellwether IntelCorp (INTC.O) that lifted hopes for a rebound in technologyspending and improved corporate profitability. (Refiles to fix typo in ‘augurs’ in paragraph 7) Stocks  |  Bonds  |  Funds News  |  ETFs News * Intel results, outlook ignite stock rally * Fed officials see recession coming to an end -minutes * U.S.

credit card defaults lower than feared * Dow up 3.1 pct, S&P 500 up 3 pct, Nasdaq up 3.5 pct * For up-to-the-minute market news click [STXNEWS/US] (Adds details on volume) By Leah Schnurr NEW YORK, July 15 (Reuters) – U.S. Fox noted that O’Brien had also included Trump’s own estimate in the book but excluded the author’s.The plaintiffs contended that O’Brien did minimal investigation to support his claims, had a history of negative reporting about Trump, and ignored information provided by Trump’s associates.The judge declined to address the issue of damages, as the defendants had requested.(Reporting by Jon Hurdle; Editing by Gary Hill and Matthew Lewis) U.S. Entertainment People. He told The Wall Street Journal in May that he was worth about $4 billion, down from an earlier estimate of $5 billion to $6 billion in early 2005.Fox cited defense arguments that all three sources — whose identities O’Brien declined to reveal, citing a law designed to protect journalists’ sources — had similar estimates of Trump’s net worth. PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A New Jersey judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit for defamation filed by Donald Trump against an author whose book gave an estimate of the real estate developer’s wealth much lower than Trump’s own. Booker, 312-368-5471, ChicagoJanet Martin, 212-908-0507, New YorkorMedia Relations:Cindy Stoller, 212-908-0526, New YorkEmail: Copyright Business Wire 2009. Fitch’s rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available onthe agency’s public site, Published ratings, criteria andmethodologies are available from this site, at all times.

Fitch’s code ofconduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, complianceand other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the ‘Code ofConduct’ section of this site Fitch RatingsAdrienne M. The stress test considers a portfolio’s credit quality,diversification, and single risk concentration. The bond bank’s reserves aresufficient to pay bonds even if scheduled repayments on the local bonds fallshort by 27.5% for the next four years, and no action is taken by the state toreplenish the reserve fund. A repayment shortfall this severe is in excess ofwhat Fitch would expect to occur in an ‘AAA’ stress scenario, given thecharacteristics of the bond bank’s portfolio.

This protection is particularly effective for school districts, whichreceive a large percentage of their revenues in the form of state aid. Finally,there is a moral obligation by the state, albeit not a legal requirement, toreplenish the debt service reserve if it falls below its minimum specifiedlevel. Neither the intercept nor the debt service reserve make-up provision hasever been utilized because the bond bank has never had a borrower default. Fitch analyzed the default tolerance of the general tax-exempt fund group’sportfolio using a stress test it also applies to state revolving funds and othermunicipal loan pools. In addition, the bond bank maintains a $20 milliondiscretionary reserve, which is not pledged to bondholders but may be used if adeficiency occurs. The combined $171 million in reserves and discretionary fundsequals approximately 15% of principal on bonds outstanding, including the series2009C and 2009D bonds. Additional credit enhancement is provided by a state intercept, whereby in theevent a borrower defaults on a local bond payment, the bond bank has the abilityto intercept any funds held by the state treasurer that are payable to theborrower.