Benzinga's Political Round Up

Sinopec SNP acquired 40% of Repsol's Brazilian unit. This is consistent with the Chinese mantra of acquiring raw materials as it continues to grow insatiably. The U.S. government now sees the cost of TARP at less than $50 billion, after the government announced that it is going to be completely divested of any role in AIG AIG and Citigroup C. Yesterday, AIG announced plans for a government exit, and the U.S. Treasury announced it will earn over $2 billion from holding Citigroup. Japan's Prime Minister said the countries huge public debt is unsustainable, and reiterated his vow to fight a rising yen, which has hurt exporters like Toytoa TM and Canon CAJ. The Commerce Department released its final showing for Q2 GDP, and the economy grew at 1.7% in the second quarter, slightly better than the 1.6% economists had been expecting. This is still very weak growth, and the Federal Reserve has been mulling over options on what it can do to combat slowing growth.