credit crisis

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Fannie, Freddie Employees Watch Assets Plunge

(Newser) - As the stock prices of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plunged 80% this year, employees of the companies helplessly watched their fortunes sink with the ship, the New York Times reports. For instance, Fannie Mae’s workers owned $116 million in company stock at the end of 2006;...

Top Execs Booted at Fannie Mae
 Top Execs Booted at Fannie Mae
Aug 28, 2008 2:48 AM CDT

Top Execs Booted at Fannie Mae

Shake-up aims to boost investor confidence in hemorrhaging firm

(Newser) - Battered mortgage-finance provider Fannie Mae has ousted three top executives in a bid to boost investor confidence, Bloomberg reports. Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd is replacing his chief officers for finance, business and risk management as he struggles to prove that the company has enough capital to ride out the...

Banks Bracing as Their Own Debts Come Due

Billions in shorter-term, floating rate notes likely to prolong credit woes

(Newser) - Billions of dollars worth of floating rate notes—vehicles used by banks to borrow money—taken out in 2006 are coming due in the next few months, and the industry is bracing for a wave of bank failures and asset sales as institutions struggle to pay off obligations, the Wall ...

Korean Bank Warned Off Lehman Bros. Buy

Firm may be too big a risk: official

(Newser) - The Korea Development Bank was warned today of rushing into a bid for Lehman Brothers by South Korea’s top banking official, the Financial Times reports. A Lehman investment may constitute too much risk for a state-owned bank, Jun Kwang-woo warned after last week’s news that, though KDB’s...

UK Banks 'Milk Borrowers' to Pay for Credit Crunch

Banks hike mortgage payments despite interest rate cuts

(Newser) - Britain's big banks are being accused of hoisting nearly £3 billion in interest payments on customers to make up for bad bank investments, the Daily Mail reports. Seeking to recoup huge losses from assets linked to subprime US mortgages, the banks have hiked mortgage rates and fees despite interest...

Downswing Not Hurting Pricey Golf Retreats

Wall Streeters keep country clubs full even as sport declines in US

(Newser) - As the recession puts a damper on luxury spending throughout the country, the nation’s toniest golf clubs—catering to a clientele at the heart of the credit tumult—are flourishing, Portfolio finds. Even with initiation fees approaching $1 million, Wall Street’s clubs of choice are brushing off the...

Secret Lehman Sale Talks Fail
Secret Lehman Sale Talks Fail
Aug 21, 2008 9:48 AM CDT

Secret Lehman Sale Talks Fail

South Korean, Chinese investors balk at hefty $5B price for half of troubled bank

(Newser) - Secret talks earlier this month to sell up to half of struggling US investment bank Lehman Brothers to South Korean or Chinese buyers fell apart after last-minutes squabbles over details, the Financial Times reports. The bank, which is expected to announce up to $4 billion in writedowns next month, was...

US Slowdown Hits India's IT Sector Hard

Economic slump adds challenge for industry pondering next steps

(Newser) - The credit crunch that has shifted the US economy into neutral has slowed the growth of India’s tech sector, which once boasted growth rates of 40% in the overall strong economy, the Wall Street Journal reports. The slowdown comes as the sector faces increasing competition from abroad and rising...

Recession May Take Down More Banks: Expert

'Worst is yet to come' for US economy, economist warns

(Newser) - The credit-market slump could take a further toll on the largest US banks, a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund tells Bloomberg. Claiming “the worst is yet to come,” Kenneth Rogoff says the financial sector “needs to shrink” before the economy will recover, and that...

Fannie, Freddie Take Another Beating on Bailout Fears

Falling market caps raise investor fears of government action

(Newser) - Share prices of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac took another precipitous plunge yesterday as investors fear the home mortgage giants will not be able to avoid a government bailout, the Wall Street Journal reports. An article in Barron’s stoked smoldering concerns that the companies will not be able to...

Financials Skid, Spark Sell-Off
 Financials Skid, Spark Sell-Off 
MARKETS
Aug 18, 2008 3:26 PM CDT

Financials Skid, Spark Sell-Off

Financials plummet on the prospect of a GSE bailout

(Newser) - The markets took a tumble today as familiar fears about a government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac returned to the fore, MarketWatch reports. Led by its financial components, the Dow fell 180.02 to close at 11,479.88. The Nasdaq shed 35.54, settling at 2,416....

Greenspan: Housing Will Hit Bottom in 2009

Skilled immigrants would help end slump, he says

(Newser) - Alan Greenspan said housing prices could continue to edge lower through 2009, but should “stabilize or touch bottom” in the first six months of the year, reports the Wall Street Journal. And, the former Fed chief says, while a government bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie May was the...

United Should Be Liquidated
 United Should Be Liquidated
opinion
Aug 13, 2008 5:49 PM CDT

United Should Be Liquidated

Why the airline doesn't deserve a second chance

(Newser) - What with the oil price spike, times are rough all around for airlines, writes Roben Farzad for BusinessWeek. But United presents a uniquely bungled case, and it is irresponsible to pity it along with other struggling players in the industry. "Even if the airline devised a way to run...

Financials Lead More Losses
 Financials Lead More Losses
MARKETS
Aug 13, 2008 3:30 PM CDT

Financials Lead More Losses

Dow falls 100 points for 2nd straight day

(Newser) - The markets saw losses today as anxiety about financial firms persisted and oil rose nearly $3 to $116 a barrel, MarketWatch reports. The Dow was hit especially hard, falling  109.51 points to 11,532.96. The other indices made afternoon gains but fell back, with the Nasdaq closing down...

Bank of England Pressed to Rein in Inflation

Food, energy prices soar, push inflation to highest rate in 16 years

(Newser) - Great Britain’s inflation rate—driven by energy and food prices rising at the fastest pace in more than 20 years—is on track to hit 5% by autumn, reports the Guardian. The cost of living jumped 0.6% to a 16-year high of 4.4% last month, the largest...

Bank Losses Soar on Falling Home Prices

Lenders swamped with foreclosures are selling them at firesale prices

(Newser) - The rising costs of carrying foreclosed homes are prompting banks to sell them off for as little as half of their original value, reports the Wall Street Journal, a strategy that’s costing financial institutions big money. The losses, and the specter of their continuing to rise, pummeled bank share...

European Unity Threatened by Economic Slowdown

Slowdown in Spain is representative of the EU's growing economic ills

(Newser) - Europe seems to be catching the economic malaise that has already affected the US, and the downturn is putting a damper on member nations' enthusiasm for the 15-year-old Economic Union, the Washington Post reports. Revised projections show European economies slowing down as much, if not more, than the US over...

More Lenders Dropping Student Loans

Some 900,000 students scrambling for alternate ways to pay tuition this fall

(Newser) - Continuing turmoil in credit markets has prompted more private lenders to cut back or eliminate education loans, leaving thousands of student borrowers without the cash they need for college, reports the Wall Street Journal. Last week Wachovia joined more than 2 dozen banks that have cut funds available to students,...

Greenspan to Government: Hands Off
Greenspan to Government: Hands Off
OPINION
Aug 5, 2008 1:15 PM CDT

Greenspan to Government: Hands Off

Market capitalism can ride out the crisis, writes former Fed boss

(Newser) - The credit crisis is far from over, and more banks and financial institutions might require government bailouts along the way, Alan Greenspan acknowledges. The crunch will relax only when home prices, "the ultimate collateral support for much of the financial world’s mortgage-backed securities," begin to stabilize, the...

Financial Faith Is Crisis' Top Casualty
 Financial Faith Is 
 Crisis' Top Casualty 
ANALYSIS
Aug 4, 2008 2:35 PM CDT

Financial Faith Is Crisis' Top Casualty

One year in, credit crunch has upset all expectations about modern markets

(Newser) - Last summer, central banks injected hundreds of billions of dollars into the financial system, desperate to restore liquidity to battered markets. But by then the credit crunch was on—and after 12 months, it shows no signs of abating. The Financial Times looks at how risky US mortgages set off...

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