The U.S. Senate voted to end debate on the financial reform bill today, clearing the way for final passage of landmark legislation intended to be a sweeping overhaul of Wall Street regulations and a major triumph for President Barack Obama.
The bill is aimed at strengthening consumer protection, providing more transparency for complex financial products and establishing a new process for shutting down giant financial firms that are in trouble.
The legislation will establish a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau inside the Federal Reserve that will write new rules to protect consumers from unfair or abusive practices in mortgages and credit cards.
The bill will create a new council of regulators, led by the U.S. Treasury, to set higher requirements tor the amount o cash banks must keep on hand to prevent them from triggering another financial crisis.
The law also will establish new limits on banks' speculative profit-chasing bets for their own accounts and their ability to own hedge funds, while leaving the door open for some investment activities.
In urging Senators to adopt the measure, Obama said, “What members of both parties realize is that we can’t allow a financial crisis like this one that we just went through to happen again.  This reform will prevent that from happening.  It will prevent a financial crisis like this from happening again by protecting consumers against the unfair practices of credit card companies and mortgage lenders.  It will ensure that taxpayers are never again on the hook for Wall Street’s mistakes.  And it will end an era of irresponsibility that led to the loss of eight million jobs and trillions of dollars of wealth.  This reform is good for families; it’s good for businesses; it’s good for the entire economy.”
The Senate voted 60 to 38 to close the debate on the bill. Final passage is expected later today.
Only three Republicans - Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Scott Brown of Massachusetts - voted with Democrats to end the debate, although several amendments of the bill were proposed by Republicans..Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, who has said the bill is not stringent enough, voted with most Republicans against the bill.
The House approved the bill in June.
"This isn't about dollars and cents only," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “It's about fairness; it's about justice; it's about making sure that there's not a next time. It's about jobs. It's about rescuing our economy."
"The White House will call this a victory," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "But as credit tightens, regulations multiply and job creation slows even further as a result of this bill, they'll have a hard time convincing the American people that this is a victory for them."

Magnetek Inc. today revised upward the expected revenue range for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 27.
The Menomonee Falls-based company currently expects revenue for the fourth quarter to fall within the range of $24.0 million to $24.5 million, compared with the prior estimated range of $21.5 million to $22.0 million. In addition, bookings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 exceeded fourth quarter revenue, resulting in an increase in the company's order backlog as of June 27, 2010, to the highest level since August 2008.
Given the increase in sales volume over the previous estimate, the company further expects to report net income from continuing operations of 1 cent to 2 cents per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. Previous estimates related to profitability for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 projected a net loss from continuing operations of 1 cent per share.
The Company expects to release final results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2010 on or around August 19.
Magnetek, Inc. provides digital power and motion control systems used in overhead material handling, elevator, and energy delivery applications.

TCF Financial Corp., which operates several TCF Bank locations in southeastern Wisconsin, today reported second quarter net income of $45 million, or 32 cents per share, which was up from $23.5 million, or 8 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The Wayzata, Minn.-based company’s quarterly revenue grew to $312.4 million.
"We are pleased to report TCF's 61st consecutive profitable quarter. Our improving financial results are fueled by both increased revenues and decreased expenses, including a decrease in credit costs," said William Cooper, TCF chairman and chief executive officer. "While the economy remains battered by slow growth and high unemployment, TCF's credit quality remains both stable and better than most of our competitors. TCF is closely watching potential and actual regulatory changes coming out of Washington. We are taking a proactive approach in adjusting our products and programs to comply with these changes. TCF has remained profitable during this turbulent period by sticking to our conservative banking philosophy and I believe we are well positioned for success."

Frontier Airlines, a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings Inc., today announced it will launch new seasonal nonstop service between Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport and Tucson International Airport.
The carrier will operate once-weekly Saturday service using its Embraer 190 aircraft between Jan. 8 and April 16, 2011.
"In our continued commitment to offer more nonstop destinations out of our Milwaukee hub we are pleased to provide Milwaukee with its first-ever nonstop service to Tucson," said Daniel Shurz, vice president of strategy and planning at Frontier. "This nonstop service, combined with our two daily connecting flights out of Denver, allows our Milwaukee guests to easily fly south this winter and enjoy all that Tucson has to offer."
The Embraer 190 aircraft features 99 seats, including two-by-two all-leather seating and four rows of stretch seating. In-flight internet service will be available on all E190 aircraft this fall.

The stock market dipped this morning, threatening its seven-day winning streak, as investors absorbed conflicting economic data.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its monthly index fell to 5.1 in July from 8.1 in June. Earlier, data showed slowing growth in New York-area manufacturing activity in July.
On the positive side of the ledger, the number of people submitting initial applications for unemployment insurance benefits fell 29,000 to 429,000 last week, hitting the lowest level since August 2008, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
Most local stocks in the BizTimes Stock Index fell this morning. The largest local decliners today were Quad/Graphics Inc. (down $2.59 to $42.00), Bucyrus International Inc. (down $1.63 to $52.83),  Joy Global Inc. (down $1.25 to $54.22) and Ladish Co. (down $1.23 to $25.72).

The Green Bay Packers reported net income of $5.2 million last year, up from $4 million in the year before. However, the Packers' profit from operations dipped to $9.8 million, compared with $20.1 million in 2008-09. The team reported a record $258 million in revenue, but also had a record $248 million in expenses. Player costs for last season were $161 million, a $22 million increase from 2008-09. The Packers' nest egg, the so-called "preservation fund," remains at $127.5 million. Read more in today’s edition of the BizTimes Wisconsin Morning Headlines bulletin.

Harbor House Restaurant, located in the former Pieces of Eight space at 550 N. Harbor Drive, will open to the public today. The new restaurant will be located between the Milwaukee Art Museum and Discovery World. Entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Cudahy and restaurateur Joe Bartolotta have partnered on the project. Read more and view a webcast video interview with Bartolotta and Cudahy in this week’s edition of the BizTimes Bubbler.

Milwaukee should seize the moment by developing an aerotropolis around General Mitchell International Airport, capitalizing on low air fares and more convenient shipping, according to Milwaukee County Supervisor Chris Larson, author of today’s Milwaukee Biz Blog.

The U.S. Senate voted 60-39 this afternoon to approve the landmark financial reform bill, sending the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The bill is aimed at strengthening consumer protection, providing more transparency for complex financial products and establishing a new process for shutting down giant financial firms that are in trouble.
The legislation will establish a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau inside the Federal Reserve that will write new rules to protect consumers from unfair or abusive practices in mortgages and credit cards.
The bill will create a new council of regulators, led by the U.S. Treasury, to set higher requirements tor the amount of cash banks must keep on hand to prevent them from triggering another financial crisis.
The law also will establish new limits on banks' speculative profit-chasing bets for their own accounts and their ability to own hedge funds, while leaving the door open for some investment activities.
Atop the passage of health care reforms earlier this year, the financial reform bill is another major victory for Obama.
In urging Senators to adopt the measure, Obama said, “What members of both parties realize is that we can’t allow a financial crisis like this one that we just went through to happen again.  This reform will prevent that from happening.  It will prevent a financial crisis like this from happening again by protecting consumers against the unfair practices of credit card companies and mortgage lenders.  It will ensure that taxpayers are never again on the hook for Wall Street’s mistakes.  And it will end an era of irresponsibility that led to the loss of eight million jobs and trillions of dollars of wealth.  This reform is good for families; it’s good for businesses; it’s good for the entire economy.”
The Senate voted 60 to 38 earlier today to close the debate on the bill.
Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, who has said the bill is not stringent enough, voted with most Republicans against the bill.
The House approved the bill in June.

Update: Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) chairman Jim MacPhee, chief executive officer of of Kalamazoo County State Bank in Schoolcraft, Mich., and Camden Fine, ICBA president and CEO, issued the following statement today about the Senate’s passage of the financial reform bill.
"This financial and economic crisis clearly demonstrates that reform of Wall Street is needed to prevent this kind of catastrophe from ever again harming our nation's taxpayers and our communities. While ICBA still vigorously disagrees with some sections of the final bill, the Dodd/Frank Act does create an important precedent that recognizes two distinct sectors within the financial services spectrum-Main Street community banks and Wall Street megabanks. 
"Important ICBA-advocated wins in the bill such as changes in the FDIC assessment base, stricter oversight of too-big-to-fail institutions, and the inclusion of non-bank financial firms under consumer compliance regulations will save community banks money and allow them to better compete, serve their communities and promote economic growth in their markets. Also, the bill contains important concessions for community banks, including protection for trust preferred securities and an exemption from paying higher FDIC premiums to increase the minimum size of the deposit insurance fund.  These and several other concessions establish the congressional policy for tiered regulation that recognize Main Street community banks as having a different banking model from large and internationally active institutions.     
"After the President signs this bill into law, ICBA will work to fix problem provisions in the legislation and minimize any additional burdens on community banks as regulations are written and implemented so community banks can continue to serve the needs of their local customers and do not continue to pay the price for an economic debacle they did not cause." 

Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 7.9 percent in June from 8.2 percent in May, lower than the June 2009 rate of 8.9 percent and at its lowest rate since February 2009, when the rate was 7.7 percent.
June was the third straight month that saw a drop in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate.
Without adjustment for seasonal factors, the state unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in June, an increase from 7.7 percent in May that reflects expected changes in the labor force such as students seeking jobs after the end of the school year. Every June over the past decade saw an unemployment rate increase without seasonal adjustment.
Wisconsin’s unemployment rate remains below the national unemployment rate of 9.5 percent with seasonal adjustment and 9.6 percent without seasonal adjustment. Through May 2010, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate remains below that of other heavy-manufacturing Midwest states including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.
Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary Roberta Gassman said, “We continue to see signs of a slow, steady recovery in Wisconsin, with tens of thousands of jobs added in 2010 and our unemployment rate continuing to move in the right direction. But we still have a lot of work ahead of us to ensure workers have the skills they need as the nation’s economy recovers and new job opportunities arise.”
With seasonal adjustment, Wisconsin posted a slight decrease in total private-sector jobs (-1,000) but with increases in specific categories such as trade (3,800), construction (500) and manufacturing of non-durable goods (200). The biggest area of job decline was in government, which posted a total drop of 7,200 jobs, due in large part to the completion of census jobs and the end of school year jobs.
Without seasonal adjustment, Wisconsin added 38,300 private-sector jobs in June, including 8,300 in manufacturing, 7,900 in trade and 5,700 in construction. The number of government jobs dropped by 14,800.