Reuters - A new bail hearing was set for Monday in the Bernard Madoff case, according to a source, with the accused swindler showing up at the courthouse.

Commercial banks have always played and, as far as I can see, will always play a role in the health of the economy. Commercial banks represent a kind of fulcrum of economic activity. If commercial banks are not lending at all, or are not moving toward an acceleration of lending, then one can bet that the economy will not be moving ahead in the near future. If commercial banks are lending modestly or are accelerating their lending, then it can be anticipated that the economy will be expanding or even over-heating.

Hedge funds on average were down 18.5 percent for 2008 (as of November), and assets under management, which peaked at almost $2 trillion last June, shrank by almost one-fifth (as of October), according to Hedge Fund Research data. The Washington Post says assets under management could shrink by as much as 75 percent.

BusinessWeek Online - When times are tough, people tend to hold on to what they have that much more tightly. But for those who can get beyond that psychological response, there's a silver lining in today's combination of depressed asset values and low interest rates: Transferring assets to the next generation has rarely been less costly.

Citigroup Inc. (C) Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit and Chairman Winfried Bischoff will forgo 2008 bonuses after the bank lost three-quarters of its market value and got a $45 billion U.S. bailout, Pandit said in a memo to employees.