FT.com - Hank Paulson, US Secretary of the Treasury, has found a potential source of hope for the moribund US mortgage market in a European funding mechanism that he believes could boost investor confidence and cut costs for American home-buyers. -- read full article
Reuters - Shares of American
International Group Inc , the world's largest insurer,
fell 8.2 percent on Thursday on concerns that a rating cut at
its mortgage insurance unit could signal more losses in the
pipeline. -- read full article
AFP - US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are facing growing pressure as fears intensify about a potential calamity at the firms, which underpin trillions of dollars in home loans.
AFP - The US government is considering a plan to take over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac if their finance problems deepen, US media reported on Friday.
Reuters - The U.S. government is considering
taking over mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac if their funding problems worsen, in a plan that could
leave shareholders nothing, the New York Times reported, citing
people briefed on the matter. -- read full article
Reuters - Home foreclosure filings jumped 53
percent in June from a year earlier, although they were down 3
percent from May, and foreclosures are expected to rise
further, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Thursday. -- read full article
Reuters - Mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac are "insolvent" and may need a U.S. government
bailout, former St. Louis Federal Reserve President William
Poole was quoted as saying in an interview with Bloomberg. -- read full article
Reuters - The Dow and the S&P 500 turned
negative on Thursday as the price of oil jumped more than $5
and financial stocks fell on worries about more credit losses.
Reuters - The White House remains focused on
passing legislation on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that will
give confidence to the financial markets, a White House
spokesman said on Thursday, amid ongoing concerns about the
mortgage finance heavyweights' capital levels. -- read full article
Reuters - Republican presidential
candidate Sen. John McCain said on Thursday that the United
States could not allow government-sponsored mortgage finance
giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to fail. -- read full article
Reuters - Presidential candidate Barack
Obama's top economic aide said on Thursday that the
difficulties facing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
reflected the softness in the U.S. economy. -- read full article
Reuters - A firestorm of anxiety hammered the
debt and shares of U.S. mortgage giants Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac for a second day on Thursday as fears
mounted over their ability to raise the capital they need to
survive. -- read full article
AP - Rupert Murdoch expects the capital markets to lurch through the next 12 months as Wall Street banks sift through mountains of bad debt related to the mortgage crisis, the News Corp. chairman said Wednesday.
