The news at a glance

Banks: JPMorgan settles over Madoff scheme

Megabank JPMorgan Chase “will pay a high price for Bernard Madoff’s crimes,” said Dan Fitzpatrick in The Wall Street Journal. The financial institution agreed this week to pay $2.6 billion to resolve claims that it “failed miserably” to keep its eyes on Madoff, whose famous Ponzi scheme swindled investors out of $17 billion. Once JPMorgan pays the fines and reforms its anti-money-laundering controls, the Justice Department will lift charges that JPMorgan “violated the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to establish effective controls” against Madoff’s activities. About $1.7 billion of the sum will go to Madoff’s victims.

It’s just pocket change for JPMorgan, said Peter Eavis in NYTimes.com. The bank’s accumulated costs to settle recent government investigations now come to more than $20 billion. Yet its shares are up, and “Wall Street analysts estimate that it will earn as much as $23 billion in profit this year, more than any other lender.” That financial success “highlights a deep quandary that regulators have to grapple with as they press the largest banks to clean up their acts.” Even such jaw-dropping figures have become just a cost of doing business for big banks like JPMorgan, which has been setting sums aside to “finance future legal payouts.”

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Fed: Senate confirms Yellen for the Fed

Janet Yellen’s position as the head of the Federal Reserve is now official, said Annalyn Kurtz in CNN.com, after the Senate voted 56–26 this week to approve her nomination. Supporters included 11 Republicans who “broke party ranks.” The historic vote means Yellen “will be the first woman to head the Federal Reserve in its 100-year history” once Ben Bernanke finishes his second term at the end of January. “Janet will stand up for American workers, protect consumers, foster the stability of our financial system, and help keep our economy growing for years to come,” said President Barack Obama.

Retail: Barnes & Noble names new CEO

Barnes & Noble has a new chief executive, said Tiffany Hsu in the Los Angeles Times. The bookseller has named Michael P. Huseby, head of its Nook digital division, to replace William Lynch, who resigned as CEO last year “amid disclosures that many of its financial statements contained errors.” Founder and chairman Leonard Riggio called Huseby “a relative newcomer to the retail book business” who has “quickly developed a comprehensive understanding of the unique opportunities and challenges the company faces.”

Automakers: Ford CEO staying put

Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally isn’t going anywhere, said Chris Woodyard in USA Today. The widely respected auto executive shot down rumors this week that he would leave Ford to replace Microsoft’s retiring CEO, Steve Ballmer. “Alan made it perfectly clear that he wanted to end all speculation,” said Ford spokesman Jay Cooney. “He has no plans to do anything else other than continue serving Ford.” The automaker’s board had reportedly become impatient after months of speculation that Mulally would leave.

Jobs: Private sector hiring ramps up

Private employers were responsible for some good news this week, said Ryan Vlastelica in Reuters.com. New payroll data from ADP showed that companies added 238,000 jobs last month, the largest monthly gain since November 2012. The numbers prompted a new bout of optimism among some economists. “We’re now going to start to see an economic recovery more typical of the economic recoveries we’ve seen historically,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “The jobs market has kicked into a higher gear.”