Benzinga's Political Round Up

U.S. states will face more financial stress next year, as stimulus spending comes to an end. This could hurt municipal bonds and ETFs like iShares S&P Natl AMTFr Mncpl Bd Fd ETF MUB. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told executives from IBM IBM and Ford F yesterday that he was concerned about the jobless rate in the country. Lawyers from the SEC felt compelled to end the Bank of America BAC case quickly, in which the bank didn't fully disclose the losses at Merrill Lynch. The Federal Reserve will name the recipients of $3.3 trillion worth of federal aid, as requested by Congress. The report is due out later today.