Financial Watch

President Barack Obama said Thursday that the United States was doomed to repeat its economic crisis if his financial reform bid failed, warning a free market was not a license for unfettered corporate greed.

The president, in advance excerpts of a speech he was due to give later in New York, the epicenter of US high finance, sent a tough message to Wall Street financial barons, American voters and Republicans who oppose his plans.

He recalled how he had visited the historic college at Cooper Union, where he will speak on Thursday, during his 2008 election campaign to warn of the dangers of corporate excess.

The index of U.S. leading indicators rose in March by the most in 10 months, a sign the economy will keep growing into the second half of the year.

The 1.4 percent increase in the New York-based Conference Board’s measure of the outlook for three to six months was more than anticipated and followed a revised 0.4 percent gain in February.

Manufacturers are ratcheting up production and factory workers are putting in longer hours as companies rebuild inventories and ship more goods overseas. Further improvement in the job market will help sustain the economy’s recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s.

The first-quarter reporting period kicks into high gear this week, even as investors continue to mull the ramifications of Goldman Sachs’ fraud charge and the latest batch of readings on the recovery.

News that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) with fraud involving the way it marketed mortgage-backed securities sent stocks tumbling Friday at the end of a mixed week.

But even with Friday’s selloff, the Dow and Nasdaq managed to end higher for the week and have now ended higher in eight of the last nine weeks. The S&P 500 ended lower for the week, but has risen in seven of the last nine weeks.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker said the U.S. economy will probably expand at a moderate pace for the rest of this year as spending by consumers and businesses picks up.

The Labor Department’s report of 162,000 jobs added to payrolls in March was the “most encouraging sign” yet of a recovery, and the “risk of a pronounced decline in inflation has diminished substantially,” Lacker said yesterday in a speech in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Lacker stopped short of endorsing any change to Fed monetary policy. Last month, Fed officials reiterated a pledge to keep rates very low for an “extended period,” citing employers’ reluctance to add jobs and depressed home building.