Biz Buzz

LONG ISLAND

Rally to hike minimum wage set

Local supporters of raising the state minimum wage plan a rally on Thursday at the Babylon LIRR station from 5 to 6 p.m. The Long Island Federation of Labor AFL-CIO and local community groups are sponsoring the gathering to build support for raising the minimum from $7.25 an hour to $8.50. They contend that raising it "is one of the most effective ways to stimulate the consumer spending that drives our economy." The legislation has stalled in Albany and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Monday that a deal to raise the wage was not possible this year because of Senate opposition. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) has said a hike would hurt businesses and hiring. A bill to raise the minimum has passed the Assembly, where Democrats hold a majority. -- CARRIE MASON-DRAFFEN

NATION

CBO warns about 'fiscal cliff'

A new government study says that allowing Bush-era tax cuts to expire and a scheduled round of automatic spending cuts to take effect would probably throw the economy into a recession. The Congressional Budget Office report says that the economy would shrink by 1.3 percent in the first half of next year if the government is allowed to fall off this so-called "fiscal cliff" on Jan. 1 -- and the higher tax rates and more than $100 billion in automatic cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies are kept in place. CBO's report says immediate tax increases and spending cuts would "represent an additional drag on the weak economic expansion." CBO is the respected nonpartisan agency of Congress that produces economic analysis and estimates of the cost of legislation.

Feds review JPMorgan risks

Federal regulators are reviewing what JPMorgan Chase told investors about its finances and the risks it took weeks before suffering a multibillion-dollar trading loss. Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday that the agency is examining JPMorgan's earnings statements and first-quarter financial reports to determine if they were "accurate and truthful." Schapiro and Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said the $2 billion-plus loss at JPMorgan should be a lesson for regulators to tighten rules mandated under the 2010 financial overhaul.

Witness: Inside trader 'smiling'

The first witness at the New York insider trading trial of a former Goldman Sachs board member says her billionaire boss was "smiling more" after receiving a call that prosecutors said was an inside tip from the defendant. Caryn Eisenberg is a former assistant to Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam. She testified Tuesday that Rajaratnam's smiles followed a phone call he received just before the markets closed on Sept. 23, 2008. Prosecutors say the defendant, Rajat Gupta, told Rajaratnam that then-struggling Goldman Sachs was about to receive a $5 billion investment from billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Prosecutors say Rajaratnam bought $27 million in Goldman stock and made about $1 million when the news was announced the next day.

Charges in LEGO sticker scam

A Silicon Valley tech executive faces charges after authorities say he put fake bar codes on hundreds of LEGO sets at Target stores so he could buy the toys at steeply discounted prices, then sell them on eBay for thousands of dollars in profits. Thomas Langenbach, 47, was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday on four counts of burglary. Authorities say he covered the original bar codes with his own bar-code stickers to get a cheaper price. They say investigators found hundreds of LEGO sets at his posh San Carlos home. Langenbach could not be reached for comment. -- AP