Auctions

The Federal Reserve made $30 billion in 28-day loans to banks at the lowest rate since it began holding special auctions last month to end the logjam in credit markets. The 3.123% rate was the lowest of the four auctions conducted since mid-December. Demand from banks, as measured by the ratio of the volume of bids to the amount of money being auctioned, also was the lowest since the auctions began. The Fed's auctions are part of a coordinated effort with central banks in Britain, Canada, Switzerland and the euro region to increase temporary funds available for banks.

I'm disappointed by the elitist article on bicycles ("Let It Ride," by Claire Martin, Jan. 6). There were no suggestions (if one is financially challenged or just needs transportation) for where to find cheap bicycles, such as on Craigslist, or at the Salvation Army and Goodwill stores or bike auctions. As gas prices continue to increase, many locals will begin riding bikes because they have to--not to show off! John Holmstrom Hollywood

Popular health and beauty products sold on Internet auction sites could be stolen, tainted and possibly dangerous, according to a warning issued today by the National Retail Federation. Advil, Visine, baby formula, diabetic testing strips and other goods are being stolen from stores, warehouses and cargo trailers and peddled on EBay and other online auction sites, said Joseph LaRocca, the group's vice president of loss prevention.

Some municipalities borrowing in the so-called auction-rate debt market are seeing the cost of money recede from a recent surge, but the market remains far from back to normal, analysts said Wednesday. Interest rates on $100 million worth of bonds issued by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were set at 8% in a weekly auction Tuesday, after reaching 20% on Feb. 12, according to data from Bloomberg News The 8% rate on the federally taxable Port Authority debt still was above the range of 4% to 5.7% the agency paid until this month.

An encrypted government disc has been found hidden in a computer sold on EBay -- another loss of sensitive data in a string of such missteps that is alarming privacy advocates as Britain inches closer to requiring all citizens to carry identity cards. A customer brought the laptop to Leapfrog Computers in the northern English city of Bolton for repairs, sales manager Jonathan Parry said. The disc had been wedged inside the laptop, apparently deliberately, he said. He added that the laptop might have been stolen before being put up for sale on EBay.

Fur coats, designer gowns, plus dozens and dozens of pairs of Ferragamo shoes belonging to the late socialite and hotel owner Leona Helmsley are headed to the auction block. Nearly her entire wardrobe is to be auctioned off May 18 at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, a Chicago-based auction house. The collection includes the Chanel skirt suit that Helmsley wore when she began serving a sentence for tax evasion. Helmsley, who died in August at age 87, ordered that her property be sold and the proceeds donated to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.

For the past year, Dennis and Carol Anderson had been eyeing a property in Idyllwild, thinking it would make a great retirement home. On Sunday, the Cypress couple was ready to make an offer. The three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot mountain house, which was on the market for about $700,000 a year ago, was being sold at a foreclosure auction. The starting bid: $235,000. "I'm a nervous wreck," said Dennis Anderson, 62, as he waited for the property to be called. As the housing market continues to slump and mortgage defaults mount, public auctions of foreclosed properties are luring buyers with the promise of bargains.

The petition was signed by 195 children in Concord, Mass. Their single request was painfully simple: that the president free "all the little slave children in this country." On April 5, 1864, Abraham Lincoln replied to the woman who had organized the petition, ending his letter, "While I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has, and that, as it seems, He wills to do it."

A rare painting by Pablo Picasso is to be sold April 10 after it was discovered in a bedroom alongside two other important works. Duke's auction house in London said Monday that the watercolor "Etreinte," depicting the artist in an embrace with lover Louise Lenoir, was found propped up against a wall with two equine paintings by British artists George Stubbs and Alfred Munnings. The identity of the seller was not disclosed. The Picasso was thought to have been painted in 1901 or 1902, when the Spanish master was a struggling artist in his early 20s.