Morning Money Links: New Geithner/AIG revelations; hopes rise for turn in jobs; discount broker price war?

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--- Geithner’s credibility deficit: Bloomberg News gets a hold of emails showing that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, under now-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, told American International Group in the fall of 2008 to withhold details from the public about the bailed-out insurer’s payments to banks including Goldman Sachs Group.

--- Good news coming on jobs? Weekly data on unemployment-benefit claims suggest that Friday’s government report on December employment could surprise to the upside. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News is that payrolls were unchanged last month, which would be the first month without net job losses since December 2007.

--- Commission deflation: Charles Schwab Corp. cuts its standard trading commission to $8.95 from $12.95, raising the prospect of a new price war among discount brokerages. Schwab’s own shareholders don’t like it: The stock is down 1.8% to $19.05; Ameritrade‘s shares take a 5% hit.

--- Bill Gross bites Uncle Sam, Tyler Durden bites Bill Gross: The ZeroHedge blog accuses the Pimco bond king of ‘nearly clinical hypocrisy’ in his latest commentary on the government’s borrowing binge.

-- Tom Petruno