Reuters - Fannie Mae, the largest provider of funding for U.S. residential mortgages, on Wednesday said it grew its investment portfolio in June at the fastest annualized rate in nearly five years.

AP - President Bush on Wednesday signed a massive housing bill intended to provide mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners and stabilize financial markets.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday signed into law a sweeping rescue package aimed at resurrecting the housing market from its worst crisis since the Great Depression and stabilizing the two largest mortgage finance companies.

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.