By Lynn Adler

(Reuters) – Bank regulators issued the first risk controls in a dozen years for lending to faltering companies, tempering some proposals the flourishing industry viewed as most egregious and expensive.

The new standards, crafted to avert a repeat of the type of bubble that sank the U.S. housing market and helped trigger a recession, define more loans as leveraged or criticized for repayment.

NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) – U.S. leveraged loan issuance
in the short month of February leapfrogged the prior record
monthly high set six years ago. But investors still hunger for
an unlikely surge in new money deals that M&A and leveraged
buyouts could spawn.

Total issuance topped the prior peak by 30 percent. The
composition shifted, however, from an LBO-driven 2007 spree to a
refinancing and repricing spurt as issuers cash in on
rock-bottom borrowing costs.

NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) – A U.S. leveraged loan repricing
spree that sliced spreads dramatically in January still has room
to run before a credit bubble forms or an investor roadblock
emerges, analysts and asset managers say.

Money is expected to keep flooding into loan mutual funds
and collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) as investors are
starving for high-yielding assets and eager to minimize duration
risk as a growing economy boosts interest rates. Meanwhile, loan
spreads remain well above those reached before the financial
crisis and all-in yields are similar to those seen pre-crisis
while loan structures are stronger.

By Lynn Adler

(Reuters) – U.S. rail and trucking companies are making big investments on both sides of the border with Mexico to capitalize on booming trade between the two countries.

Every day, about 10 Kansas City Southern trains hauling everything from cars to chemicals crisscross the border between Mexico and the United States at Laredo, Texas, up from about six just three years ago.

By Lynn Adler

(Reuters) – U.S. rail and trucking companies are making big investments on both sides of the border with Mexico to capitalize on booming trade between the two countries.

Every day, about 10 Kansas City Southern (KSU.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) trains hauling everything from cars to chemicals crisscross the border between Mexico and the United States at Laredo, Texas, up from about six just three years ago.

By Soyoung Kim and Lynn Adler

(Reuters) – Activist fund Relational Investors LLC and a large public pension fund jointly reported a 6.15 percent stake in Timken Co (TKR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and said the diversified manufacturer should split into two publicly traded companies.

Shares of Timken, which makes mechanical components and high-performance steels, jumped 11.6 percent to $46.23 on the New York Stock Exchange, valuing the company at more than $4.4 billion.

Nov 16 (Reuters) – United Parcel Service is raising
net shipping rates by up to 4.9 percent in 2013, with smaller
increases on air express services as it caters to customer
demand for slower and cheaper shipping options.

The world’s largest package delivery company also said on
Friday that the slowest freight shipment rate will increase
after being unchanged this year.

By Lynn Adler

(Reuters) – U.S. train, truck and logistics companies were among the first to get rolling in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy thanks to many lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and other storms, according to industry analysts and executives.

That quick rebound is why the shipping business is expected to be a key driver for the Northeast economy as the region rebuilds.

Nov 9 (Reuters) – U.S. train, truck and logistics companies
were among the first to get rolling in the aftermath of
Superstorm Sandy thanks to many lessons learned from Hurricane
Katrina and other storms, according to industry analysts and
executives.

That quick rebound is why the shipping business is expected
to be a key driver for the Northeast economy as the region
rebuilds.

By Lynn Adler

(Reuters) – Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a third-quarter profit on Tuesday, driven by a U.S. housing market on the mend, and said it was not requesting additional funds from the U.S. Treasury to stay solvent.

The government’s second-largest mortgage funding entity, which said its portfolio of late-paying loans was the lowest in two years, had sufficient income to make a $1.8 billion dividend payment to the Treasury.