Reuters - Merrill Lynch & Co shares fell 5.5 percent Friday on rumors that the investment bank may issue a profit warning and take additional write-downs on its mortgage holdings, traders said.

Reuters - Stocks extended their losses on Friday after Standard and Poor's said it may cut the credit rating of the Big Three automakers, compounding banking-related jitters also driving the market lower.

Reuters - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as a drop in oil prices fueled investor optimism about consumer spending, driving shares of transportation and retailers sharply higher.

Reuters - Washington Mutual Inc said on Thursday it eliminated 1,200 jobs, following mortgage losses that some analysts have said will keep the largest U.S. savings and loan from turning a profit before 2010.

AP - More than 400 real estate industry players have been indicted since March — including dozens over the last two days — in a Justice Department crackdown on incidents of mortgage fraud nationwide that stem from the country's housing crisis.

Reuters - Bank of America expects to complete its acquisition of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp by July 1, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

Reuters - A Congressional ethics panel is examining allegations that two Senate Democrats, including the sponsor of a major housing bill, received preferential loans by troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp, a member of Congress said on Thursday.

Reuters - The U.S. housing crisis produced its first high-profile Wall Street arrests on Thursday, while the Bush administration called for broadening the Federal Reserve's powers over investment banks and said it has charged hundreds of people in a mortgage fraud probe.

AFP - Two ex-Bear Stearns executives were indicted Thursday as officials unveiled charges against 406 people in a huge probe into fraud, which helped fuel the housing crisis and infect the global economy.

AP - Two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers were hauled into jail Thursday and charged with lying to investors about the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, perhaps signaling the start of a wave of prosecutions arising from the housing meltdown.

Reuters - Switzerland's central bank is demanding UBS and Credit Suisse build a bigger financial cushion to save a repeat of the subprime mortgage disaster that spoilt the country's reputation as an unshakeable powerhouse.

AP - Two former Bear Stearns managers were arrested Thursday on securities fraud and other charges linked to the collapse of a hedge fund that bet heavily on subprime mortgages before the market collapsed, federal authorities said.

Reuters - The Nasdaq rose on Thursday as top technology companies and other exporters benefited from tumbling oil prices, seen as easing strains on global economic growth.

Reuters - Congress should examine preferential loans to two Senate Democrats, including the sponsor of a major housing bill, by mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp, a senior Democratic lawmaker said on Thursday.

AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages kept surging this week, rising to the highest level in nearly nine months, reflecting more concerns about what the Federal Reserve will do to combat a growing inflation threat.