In a 59-39 vote Thursday evening, the Senate passed a sweeping overhaul of how the government regulates banks and Wall Street, marking the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the 1930s and giving President Barack Obama a major policy victory.

After weeks of negotiations, Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) reached a bipartisan agreement Tuesday that would put an end to taxpayer bailouts of large, systemically important financial firms. A proposed $50 billion fund that would have…

In other news Friday, the federal government began a criminal probe into financial firm Goldman Sachs, following the civil charges launched by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The government also reported that consumer spending helped lift the economy last quarter,…