AP - Wall Street shot higher Tuesday, gaining back the previous session's sharp losses and then some, after a drop in oil prices and a rise in consumer confidence gave investors some hope for a letup in Americans' financial woes. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 266 points.

Reuters - U.S. securities regulators have extended through August 12 an emergency rule aimed at curbing abusive short selling in the stocks of 19 major financial firms, including mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae .

AP - Federal regulators on Tuesday extended through mid-August a temporary order banning a certain kind of short-selling of the stocks of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and 17 large investment banks.

AP - Stocks rebounded Tuesday after the previous session's steep tumble, as a drop in oil prices and a rise in consumer confidence gave investors hope for a possible letup in Americans' financial woes. The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 190 points.

Reuters - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama agreed on Tuesday that Washington must restore confidence in mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Obama's spokesman said.

Reuters - The Treasury and the nation's four biggest banks on Monday said they will kick-start a market for an investment product to support home financing in the latest effort to spur a slumping housing market.

AFP - The Treasury and major US banks endorsed plans Monday to help pump additional liquidity into the strained housing market by issuing "covered bonds," or flexible mortgage-backed securities.

AP - The Bush administration and federal banking regulators joined with the nation's four largest banks Monday to endorse a new way to pump money into the battered U.S. mortgage market.

Reuters - Merrill Lynch & Co said on Monday it will take a $5.7 billion third-quarter write- down as it unloads huge amounts of risky debt, and raise $8.5 billion by selling new stock.

AFP - Wall Street titan Merrill Lynch announced it was dumping billions of dollars of mortgage debt at a steep loss and raising 8.5 billion in new capital, as the US housing crisis continued to devastate the country's banking sector.

Reuters - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the nation's four biggest banks were ready to kick-start a market for covered bonds that could help significantly expand home mortgage financing.

AFP - The Treasury and four large US banks endorsed plans Monday for "covered bonds," flexible mortgage-backed securities to help pump additional liquidity into the strained housing market.