US lawmakers agree on housing rescue package

US lawmakers agree on housing rescue package 
Plan to help home owners and prop up Freddie, Fannie could cost US$25b
 
WASHINGTON - UNITED States lawmakers have hammered out a compromise deal on a major housing rescue package that will permit the government to help struggling home owners get new and cheaper loans. It will also help [...]

The ‘worst financial crisis of our lifetime’

The ‘worst financial crisis of our lifetime’
 
NEW YORK - FOR many Americans, this feels like the worst economic crisis in their lifetimes - and some leading investors are starting to say they may be right.
The bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000 and 2001 seems tame by comparison, and the savings and loan crisis [...]

Fed chief paints gloomy picture for US economy

Fed chief paints gloomy picture for US economy 
Inflation, housing woes and strains in financial markets pose downside risks to growth
 
WASHINGTON - FEDERAL Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress yesterday that the fragile United States economy was being confronted by ‘numerous difficulties’, including persistent strains in financial markets, rising joblessness and housing problems.

And all [...]

Discounted mortgage notes could help stop US foreclosures

Discounted mortgage notes could help stop US foreclosures
 
(CHICAGO) Where politicians and bankers see vexing liabilities in defaulted mortgages and foreclosures, Robert Lee sees opportunities as he picks up the pieces of the housing bust.
 
His company, Foreclosure Trackers Inc, which he co-founded with president David Phelps, is based in Huntington Beach, California, in a bank [...]

Saving Fannie and Freddie

Saving Fannie and Freddie
 
ALARMED by the sharply eroding confidence in the country’s two largest mortgage finance companies, the US government has proposed a sweeping rescue package to save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:
WHAT ARE THEY?
 
 
The Federal National Mortgage Association, nicknamed Fannie Mae, was created in 1938 at the request of President Franklin D. [...]

US props up mortgage giants

US props up mortgage giants 
 
Federal govt throws lifeline to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to avert financial disaster
WASHINGTON - THE US government has announced bold and unprecedented measures to shore up troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after a crisis of confidence rocked the ‘too big to let fail’ companies.
Scrambling [...]

Collapse of US mortgage bank piles on jitters for markets

Collapse of US mortgage bank piles on jitters for markets
 
IT looks like even Wall Street’s usually unflappable equities traders may have become unnerved.
 
But who can blame them after the week that they have been through. There was a run on and near melt-down of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, new record highs [...]

IndyMac fails as ‘problem’ US banks multiply

IndyMac fails as ‘problem’ US banks multiply
 
THE collapse of IndyMac Bank, which could add up to be the most expensive bank failure ever in the United States, comes as the number of ‘problem’ institutions is on the rise.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) disclosed last month that it was closely watching 90 financial [...]

No easy answers on whether Fannie and Freddie will go bust

No easy answers on whether Fannie and Freddie will go bust 
Mortgage firms’ future losses hard to gauge; what is certain is they need to raise cash soon
 
NEW YORK - ARE Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac really in danger of going belly-up?
This question has reverberated through financial markets worldwide since last Friday, when the [...]

Wall Street firmly in bears’ clutches

Wall Street firmly in bears’ clutches 
US market will be trained on economic and earnings data this week, amid oil price and mortgage worries
 
NEW YORK - THE bears have Wall Street cornered, and they just won’t let go.
This week is almost sure to be a rocky ride for the stock market in the [...]