Today's Focus: Bailout Money

Today, we get an important report card of sorts on how the government is handling the $700 billion pot of money that lawmakers approved to rescue the nation's financial system. The Post's Peter Whoriskey reports that the findings will be highly critical of the government's oversight and the the panel's lone Republican did not go along with the findings. The report will officially be released this morning at a hearing before the House Financial Services committee, which kicks off at 10 a.m. ET.

In overseas news this morning, Rio Tinto announced today that it plans to lay off 14,000 people and pay down $10 billion in debt by the end of next year. In China, exports fell 2.2 percent in November, marking the first drop in seven years, according to the WSJ.

The markets in Asia closed sharply higher this morning, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 5.6 percent and Japan's Nikkei up 3.2 percent. In China, the DJ Shanghai index was up 2.9 percent. In Europe, markets are flat.

Check back here for live updates during the TARP hearing and other news throughout the day.

--Sara Goo

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