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The Federal Reserve said that it will begin paying interest on commercial banks' reserves and will expand its loan program to banks by billions of dollars, fresh steps to help ease a painful credit...
As the presidential election season nears its climax, there is growing evidence that the country is slipping into the deepest recession in decades. The latest marker came when the government report...
The number of out-of-work Americans filing new claims for unemployment insurance rose last week to a 7-year high, according to a government report released Thursday. The Department of Labor said i...
The United States needs to act urgently to shield its economy from an escalating credit crisis and Europe must ready plans in case its problems worsen, the head of the International Monetary Fund s...
Job losses have been mounting, and the slowing economy and credit crunch is likely to take an even greater toll in the coming months. Analysts on average forecast that the monthly employment repor...
A measure of U.S. manufacturing activity contracted more than expected last month, hitting the lowest level since the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, as new orders slowed dramatically. The Insti...
Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have dismantled their powerful lobbying corps, removing two dozen people who made up one of Washington's most formidable advocacy teams. The depar...
The government probe into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac widened as the mortgage giants disclosed they are under investigation by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. T...
President Bush may be set to sign into law $25 billion in low-interest loans to help automakers and auto parts suppliers make fuel-efficient vehicles, but don't expect a rush of new hi-tech ultra-c...
A bipartisan rebellion in the House killed a $700 billion rescue plan for the nation's financial system, sending global stock prices plunging, prompting fierce recriminations on the presidential ca...
The sale of Wachovia's banking business to Citigroup marked the second time in five days that a major U.S. bank was forced from existence in part by fleeing depositors, raising serious questions ab...
The number of people on food stamps has been increasing for months. In June, the figure was 28.6 million, according to the government. The only other time so many Americans have been on food stamps...
A day after the collapse of the nation's largest thrift, Washington Mutual, investors scurried from the stocks of Wachovia, National City and other banks with large portfolios of troubled loans, as...
The Securities and Exchange Commission failed in its oversight of investment bank Bear Stearns, ignoring that the company took excessive risks with mortgage-related securities before its demise, ac...
The Federal Reserve made it easier Monday for private equity firms and other types of investors to take minority stakes in banks, a move that could usher new capital infusions to cash-hungry banks ...
The stratospheric pay packages of Wall Street executives have become a lightning rod issue as Congress shapes a $700 billion bailout for financial firms. The moves in Washington mirror the popular ...
The Federal Reserve said Sunday it had granted a request by the country's last two major investment banks — Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — to change their status to bank holding companies. The ...
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called for quick action on a $700 billion bailout bill but resisted Democratic calls to include further relief for homeowners. The rescue plan, as outlined in a thr...
Initial claims for state jobless benefits rose by 10,000 in the latest week, reflecting claims filed by residents of Louisiana hit by Hurricane Gustav, the Labor Department said. Claims for the wee...
Fearing a financial crisis worldwide, the Federal Reserve reversed course and agreed to an $85 billion bailout that would give the government control of the troubled insurance giant American Intern...
In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another promin...
A sharp monthly rise in unemployment for women could be a sign that the economic slowdown has begun to hit working women with a force not seen in decades. When the unemployment rate for women went ...
The stricken U.S. mortgage market is set to suffer further setbacks in the next two years as $96 billion of risky home loans sold with initial flexible payment options switch to more stringent term...
Consumers should brace for the biggest increase in food prices in nearly 20 years in 2008 and even more pain next year due to surging meat and produce prices, the Agriculture Department said. Food ...
Large mortgage insurers have reported $2.6 billion in losses so far this year, sparking concerns that rising foreclosure rates could force the industry into a money crunch and ultimately make the h...
The number of newly laid off people signing up for jobless benefits climbed to its highest point in more than six years as companies cut back given the faltering economy. The Labor Department repor...
Freddie Mac posted its fourth consecutive quarterly loss, set plans to slash its common stock dividend and warned of more difficulty ahead amid the steepest U.S. housing market slump since the Grea...
he U.S. unemployment rate rose in July to 5.7 percent, the highest level in more than four years, as employers shed workers for the seventh straight month, the government reported. The weakness of ...
President Bush signed a massive housing bill intended to provide mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners and stabilize financial markets. Bush signed the bill without any fanfare or signi...
Even as a huge bipartisan majority in the Senate voted to send a sprawling housing bill to the White House, economists, consumer advocates and other analysts said the legislation is unlikely to re...
The House passed a bill that authorizes the Treasury Dept. to extend Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac a lifeline without any of the conditions that the companies' critics had demanded. The House agreed to...
The House approved far-reaching government assistance for the housing market, including broad authority for the Treasury Department to protect the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies an...
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are "adequately capitalized" and in "no danger of failing." The two...
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in "no danger of failing." The Fed chief made his remarks to the House Financial Ser...
The Securities and Exchange Commission said it is immediately opening a probe to prevent the spread of false information used to manipulate securities prices. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said the ...
Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued a week of freefall on Wall Street, abruptly losing nearly half their value as investors ignored efforts by federal regulators to reassure about the fi...
Federal regulators seize IndyMac Bank after it succumbs to the pressures of tighter credit, tumbling home prices and rising foreclosures. IndyMac is the largest thrift ever to fail in the U.S.
The number of Americans losing their homes to foreclosure continued to soar in June, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties. Lenders repossessed 71,563 homes in June. ...
The U.S. central bank has auctioned a further $75 billion of short-term loans to help the financial sector. The auction, the 15th since December, is part of the Fed's attempts to help banks through...
With falling revenue from sales and income taxes, and property-tax declines looming, states, cities and towns have already laid off tens of thousands of government employees. Many expect more job c...
In a sign of continuing trouble in the housing market, mortgage delinquency rates doubled over a 12-month period at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two industry giants reported yesterday. In April,...
A key provision of the housing bill now awaiting action in the Senate -- and widely touted as offering a lifeline to distressed homeowners -- was initially suggested to Congress by lobbyists for ma...
The International Monetary Fund warned that the U.S. economy was likely to stagnate in the second half of 2008, pouring cold water on hopes that recovery could soon be under way. It said that conti...
Two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers were arrested Thursday morning. They will be arraigned later Thursday on charges of securities fraud as part of a yearlong federal investigation into the...
Two former managers at investment bank Bear Stearns have been charged with fraud related to two hedge funds which collapsed in June last year. Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, who managed the funds...
Just when the economy most needs the help of capable policymakers, America's central bank finds itself short-staffed. The predicament: Where the Federal Reserve is supposed to have seven members on...
Bolstering the performance of the health care system is one of the biggest challenges facing the country, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said. New medical technologies and treatment...
The FBI says it has arrested 406 property market players as part of a crackdown on alleged mortgage frauds worth an estimated $1billion. The arrests include housing developers, estate agents and mo...
Two government agencies report on home building and on wholesale prices at the same time, followed rapidly by a report from the Federal Reserve on industrial output. The three reports will be the h...
Amid an ever worsening jobs picture, House lawmakers have approved a measure Thursday to extend unemployment benefits. The emergency measure comes on the same day that the Labor Department reported...
Amid growing public disquiet about the rising cost of food and fuel, U.S. regulators come under increasing pressure from Congress to seriously question the role investor activity is having in drivi...
A flood of economic aid payments pushed the federal budget deficit to $165.9 billion, the highest imbalance ever for May. The Treasury Department reported that the May deficit was more than double ...
More than one million homes are now in foreclosure, the highest rate ever recorded, according to a trade group which warned that number will continue to climb. The Mortgage Bankers Association's fi...
Americans saw their net worth decline by $1.7 trillion in the first quarter — the biggest drop since 2002 — as declines in home values and the stock market ravaged their holdings. Meanwhile, the am...
At a special meeting convened at Bear Stearns' 45-floor octagonal midtown office tower, investors nodded through a sale of the cash-strapped company to its rival JP Morgan at a knockdown price of a...
Despite the increased cost and inconvenience of declaring personal bankruptcy as a result of legislation passed three years ago, filings have jumped substantially in the last few months. More than ...
The wave of misery caused by America' sub-prime mortgage crisis engulfed more homeowners in April as foreclosures rose by 65% year-on-year, adding to pressure on the White House to provide relief f...
Cities and municipalities across the country are pioneering an emerging civic strategy to sue lenders and banks to recoup lost revenue and reclaim neighborhoods devastated by the mortgage crisis. A...
FBI officials disclosed complaints of mortgage fraud are piling up at record levels this year, and appear certain to shatter last year's record. Financial institutions received 33,359 "suspicious a...
The economic downturn is hitting roughly one in 10 middle-aged and older Americans especially hard, compelling them to borrow money for everyday living expenses and to seek help from family, friend...
About 2.3% of prime loans were 60 days past due in February, the highest level in at least a decade. That's up from 1.4% a year ago. The figures remain relatively small so far. But if they rise fur...
Fannie Mae, one of the main sources of mortgage funding and a barometer of the housing market, reported that home prices fell faster than it expected during the first quarter, contributing to a $2....
Corporate defaults are reaching levels not seen in years as companies struggle with a fickle bond market and nervous consumers. Already this year, 27 U.S. companies have defaulted on their debt, ex...
Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, urged Congress to allow federal agencies more leeway in overseeing the ailing mortgage industry, emphasizing that the causes of the current for...
Steve Bailey, chief executive for loan administration at Countrywide Financial Corp., told a Senate panel that the company's employees have made mistakes "from time to time." But he disputed accusa...
Federal authorities, responding to the subprime-mortgage crisis, have formed a task force to determine if lenders or Wall Street firms participated in fraud. The task force will be headed by prosec...
A deal for Countrywide Financial, the third largest U.S. mortgage lender, to sell itself to the Bank of America may be at risk, analysts have suggested. The bank may renegotiate the deal or walk aw...
Moving to stop the economy from stumbling further, the Federal Reserve said that it would pump more cash into U.S banks to keep the nation's financial system from seizing up. The Fed said it would ...
The House of Representatives Financial Services Committee has approved a sweeping bill to enable the government to finance $300 billion in distressed mortgages with the aim of helping 2 million hom...
The economy likely shed more jobs in April as the economy continued to weaken against the backdrop of a deeper deterioration in the housing market and a growing credit crunch. Economists have forec...
Foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2008 increased on a year-over-year basis in 46 out of the 50 states and in 90 of the nation's 100 largest metro areas, demonstrating that most regions o...
The rise in foreclosures isn't just affecting homeowners, it's also putting pressure on renters, according to a report released by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. The nu...
The Securities and Exchange Commission turned down a congressional request to divulge why it cut off an investigation into whether Bear Stearns Cos. hurt investors by improperly determining the val...
Battling to relieve stressed credit markets, the Federal Reserve has provided a total of $360 billion in short-term loans to squeezed banks since December to help them overcome credit problems. The...
The Senate proclaimed a fierce bipartisan resolve to help American homeowners in danger of foreclosure. But senators approved a bill that would provide billions of dollars in tax breaks — for autom...
Key legislators, Bush administration officials, banking regulators and the presidential candidates have lined up behind the of letting the Federal Housing Administration back new loans for homeowne...
FBI Director Robert Mueller described a "tremendous surge" in mortgage fraud investigations that he said has diverted agents from other cases and is expected to keep growing. At a Senate hearing, M...
U.S. wage growth couldn’t keep pace withinflation as real earnings declined 1.0%, according to a report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. From March 2007 to March 2008, weekly earnin...
Foreclosure filings jumped 57% in March compared with the same month last year and rose 5% versus February, as the nation's housing market continues to deteriorate. On a year over year basis, the n...
The Senate yesterday gave overwhelming approval to a modest package of tax breaks and other provisions aimed at easing the nation's housing crisis, while Democrats in both chambers pressed for more...
More and more middle-class Americans say they aren't better off than they were five years ago, reflecting economic pressures amid growing personal debt, according to a new study. The survey by the ...
The International Monetary Fund says worldwide losses from the credit crisis could near $1 trillion, reflecting the massive cost of the breakdown in markets for home mortgages and other kinds of de...
Fed chair Alan Greenspan signals concern with "abusive lending practices that target vulnerable segments of the population and can result in unaffordable payments, equity stripping, and foreclosure."
Employers buffeted by talk of recession slashed 80,000 jobs in March, the most in five years and the third straight month of losses. At the same time, the national unemployment rate rose from 4.8 p...
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the unprecedented actions to prevent the collapse of Bear Stearns were taken to preserve the viability of the U.S. financial system and do not represent a...
The Bush administration's efforts to distance itself from the bailout of Bear Stearns ended as documents were released detailing the extensive role played by Treasury Department officials. In a let...
Besides stock options and enormous salaries, a surprising number of CEOs get some of their taxes paid by their companies. According to a study from corporate governance research firm the Corporate ...
Financial analysts have said in a new report that they expect the U.S. commercial banking industry — essentially, all companies that lend or collect deposits — to lose 200,000 of its two million jo...
Citing expected growth in unemployment, the Congressional Budget Office this month projected the number of Americans receiving food stamps will reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest leve...
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the Finance Committee chairman, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley, D-Iowa are demanding details of the last-minute sale of failing investment bank Bear Stearns to JP Morgan, an...
New York City risks losing more than 20,000 jobs in the high-paying financial sector over the next two years as the crisis in mortgage markets drives down Wall Street's profits, according to a new ...
More than 8,000 staff will face the axe at Bear Stearns worldwide once the stricken U.S. investment bank is acquired by JP Morgan, as fears mount that the credit crunch could keep downward pressure...
Big Wall Street investment companies are taking advantage of the Federal Reserve's unprecedented offer to secure emergency loans. The lending is part of a major effort by the Fed to help a financia...
The Labor Department reported that first-time claims for state unemployment benefits rose 22,000 to 378,000 for the week ended March 15. Economists see readings consistently higher than 350,000 as ...
Hoping to avoid a systemic meltdown in financial markets, the U.S. Federal Reserve approved a $30 billion loan to engineer the takeover of Bear Stearns and announced an open-ended lending program f...
The President's Working Group on Financial Markets called for tougher state and federal regulation of mortgage lending and mortgage brokers. It also supported creating a national licensing standard...
The Treasury Department says the federal deficit swelled to $263.3 billion in the first five months of this budget year as record spending during the period outpaced record revenues.
Besieged subprime lender Countrywide Financial Corp. is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for possible securities fraud. The probe focuses on whether Countrywide's managemen...
The Fed said it will make $200 billion available to financial institutions in an effort to ease a crisis of confidence that is making it harder for families and businesses to borrow money. The cent...
Employers shed 63,000 jobs in February, many more than analysts had expected, according to a Labor Department report, making it the second consecutive month of employment losses and upping the prob...
The nation's private-sector employment rolls dropped by 23,000 net jobs in February, according to the ADP employment index. Employment in the service-producing sector rose by a net 47,000 jobs, but...
Mortgages are just part of the problem. With losses also rising on loans for everything from cars to commercial real estate, banks effectively will have less money available to make new loans — abo...
Fannie Mae, a titan of the mortgage business, reported that rising defaults and falling home prices contributed to a $3.56 billion loss in the last three months of 2007. The company predicted that ...
Several of the nation's largest lenders, along with smaller ones, are shutting off access to home equity lines in areas where home values are declining.
The Treasury Department and six of the largest mortgage lenders have announced Project Lifeline, a plan to allow homeowners who behind on their mortgages to suspend foreclosure for 30 days while le...
Caught between plummeting home values and skyrocketing mortgages, many homeowners are simply mailing in their keys and walking away from their homes and their loans.
Blacks and Latinos will lose between $163 billion and $278 billion from sub prime loans taken out over the past eight years. Blacks will lose $71 billion to $122 billion, while Latino borrowers wil...
As more and more Americans cope with unemployment, struggle to pay their mortgages and deal with higher gas prices, the National Pawnbrokers Association says its members have seen an increase in bu...
The Dow had it's worst day in three months, falling 370 points after an economic report and remarks from a Federal Reserve official sparked recession panic.
President Bush's 2009 budget will virtually freeze most domestic programs and seek nearly $200 billion in savings from federal health care programs.
The House approved a $146 billion fiscal stimulus package, hoping to seal a fast-paced deal with President Bush on tax rebates and business incentives intended to jolt the economy with new spending...
The Senate's plan to stimulate the economy offers a $500 check to virtually every American—including low-income seniors and rich financiers—in a direct challenge to the bipartisan deal reached last...
Plan would help state and local governments issue tax-exempt bonds for refinancing, and temporarily freeze mortgage rates for tens of thousands.
Freddie Mac lost $2 billion in the third quarter, much more than Wall Street was expecting, primarily because it needed to set aside $1.2 billion to account for bad home loans. It also said it may ...
Ameriquest Mortgage, the largest American subprime lender as recently as 2005, is closing. Citigroup said today that it had agreed to buy the wholesale mortgage origination and servicing assets of ...
Countrywide, biggest US mortgage lender, narrowly avoids bankruptcy by taking out emergency $11.5 billion loan.
In Wall Street Journal interview, former Fed governor Edward Gramlich accuses Greenspan of blocking a 2000 proposal to increase scrutiny of subprime lenders. Greenspan responds there are "a very la...
ubs shuts down Dillon Read Capital Management, its US subprime arm. GM's finance unit announces deep losses on subprime mortgages. sec task force begins meeting to examine Wall Street's handling of...
Ameriquest settles 49-state investigation into deceptive subprime practices for $325 million.
Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act makes it far harder for consumers (but not businesses) to discharge debts. Chief sponsor, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), has received $2 mil...
Federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issues final rule to preempt states from applying most of their credit laws to national banks and their subsidiaries. The move has the effect of un...
The chief executive of the mortgage giant Freddie Mac rejected internal warnings that could have protected the company from some of the financial crises now engulfing it, according to more than two...
Ameriquest employees give total of $200,000 to Bush campaign; founder Roland Arnall and wife Dawn give more than $5 million to pro-Bush pacs. Arnall later appointed ambassador to Netherlands.
In 2004, as regulators warned that subprime lenders were saddling borrowers with mortgages they could not afford, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development helped fuel more of that risky...
New Jersey's anti-predatory-lending law signed. Again, Ameriquest and other lenders launch campaign to kill it and Standard & Poor's says it won't rate certain New Jersey securities; law gutted wit...
HSBC acquires Household Finance, nation's 4th-largest subprime lender.
Conseco files for bankruptcy, mostly due to its purchase of subprime lender Green Tree. In all, 13 banks have failed during 2002—most, according to a Fed report, because of bad loans and "improper ...
Georgia's new anti-predatory law signed; Ameriquest helps lead campaign against it and announces that it won't do business in Georgia until law is changed. Standard & Poor's refuses to rate Georgia...
The Federal Trade Commission has sued the Associates group and its parent company, Citigroup, charging them of using "systematic and widespread abusive lending practices" to deceive home-equity bor...
The Money Store proved to be a money pit for First Union Corp., which said it would take a $2.8 billion charge and close its home equity lending operation, a few days before the second anniversary ...
Several major business organizations are banding together to fight the Treasury Department's plan to overhaul the nation's patchwork of financial regulation, less than two weeks after the proposal ...
Called the Financial Services Modernization Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repealed parts of the Glass-Steagall Act, opening up competition among banks, securities, and insurance companies, settin...
North Carolina General Assembly bucks deregulation trend, passing landmark measure to curb predatory lending.
Conseco purchases mobile home lender turned subprime powerhouse Green Tree in $6 billion deal.
In the largest proposed corporate merger in history, the banking giant Citicorp and insurance titan Travelers will join forces. The new company, to be called Citigroup, would be the largest financi...
The FIRE sector (Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate) spends $200 million lobbying and $150 million in campaign contributions, to repeal Glass-Steagall to facilitate mergers.
Office of Thrift Supervision issues rule preempting almost all state laws regulating S&L credit activities.
As part of Newt Gingrich's Contract With America, Congress enacts a measure making it more difficult to sue companies for securities fraud.
Congress enacts Truth in Lending Act "reform," easing regulations on creditors; bill powered through by Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), a key recipient of finance, insurance, and real estate (fire) do...
The country's two largest mortgage finance companies were not subject to the same financial standards and tax burdens as their competitors, and an implicit government guarantee to back them up mean...
Silverado S&L collapses, leaving $1.3 billion taxpayer liability; board members include Neil Bush, who engineered loans to friends in what federal Office of Thrift Supervision will call "multiple c...
Drexel Burnham Lambert, home to "junk-bond king" Michael Milken, creates "collateralized debt obligations" (cdos)—securities made up of myriad loans and bonds with different risk levels.
Sen. John McCain meets with federal regulators to discuss investigation of Lincoln Savings and Loan. The thrift's owner, Charles Keating, was the senator's business partner and campaign contributor...
The Garn-St. Germain Depository Act is enacted, deregulating the savings and loan industry.
Sen. Garn becomes chair of Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee with fellow deregulation advocate M. Danny Wall as majority staff director. American Banker exults that "lobbyists he...
The Bank Holding Act of 1956 is amended, weakening the Glass-Steagall act by allowing commercial banks to both accept deposits and make commercial loans.
The Truth in Lending Act became law, requiring banks to disclose loan terms and fees.
The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 established the Federal Trade Commission, and prohibited unfair or deceptive business practices.
President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Congressional act that created the United States' central banking system
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