Wall Street Roundup: That $600 billion. Mixed bonus signals.

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Ignoring unemployment. The number of people filing for unemployment claims rose, but it didn’t discourage investors who are still excited about the stimulus plan announced Wednesday by the Federal Reserve.

That $600 billion. Will the Federal Reserve’s quantitative-easing plan help repair the economy? Here’s a list of the economists on either side of the debate. And here is Ben Bernanke defending the package.

Mixed bonus signals. Although one survey out Thursday suggests that the bonuses handed out by Wall Street banks next spring may be up, a look at what the big banks have set aside for bonuses so far indicates that pay is falling, with Goldman Sachs leading the way down.

Whither Dodd-Frank. Although some newly powerful Republicans in Congress are talking about rolling back parts of the financial reform bill, analysts say that big changes to the legislation are unlikely.

Hip-hop showdown. A conference last week gave us the latest installment of the hip-hop debate between the economic philosophies of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek.

-- Nathaniel Popper in New York