AP - With the developer forced into bankruptcy, Hugh Smith worries about the $1 million he and a partner sunk into bare lots at Promontory, a half-built, sprawling residence club in a post-Olympic town saturated with second homes for wealthy Boomers.

Reuters - Stocks fell sharply on Friday with the Dow closing below 12,000 for the first time since mid-March as rising oil prices and warnings of more mortgage-related write-downs at banks reignited investor fears of worse to come.

Reuters - Stocks fell sharply on Friday with the Dow closing below 12,000 for the first time since mid-March as rising oil prices and warnings of more mortgage-related write-downs at banks reignited investor fears of worse to come.

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 - 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.