Senior officials from the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve on Friday informed top executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants, that the government was preparing to seize the two companies and place them in a conservatorship, officials and company executives briefed on the discussions said. ...more

September 6, 2008

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Friday the economy continues to be in a recession, by his definition, and will continue to be for at least several months. ...more

August 23, 2008

A government rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could be costly for scores of investment, banking and insurance companies that hold billions of dollars in preferred shares in the mortgage finance giants. ...more

August 22, 2008

Shares of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued their plunge Wednesday as investors became increasingly convinced that the stocks will drop to zero if the government bails out the troubled companies. ...more

August 21, 2008

Everything will be all right if we just fix the housing problem. That was the hope investors clung to as they watched Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac crumble this week. ...more

August 21, 2008

Whether or not the government is actually on the verge of taking over mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, investor fears that a bailout is imminent could turn such a worst-case scenario into reality. ...more

August 20, 2008

A government order expired Tuesday that temporarily banned a certain kind of short-selling of the stocks of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and 17 large investment banks. ...more

August 13, 2008

Even as a huge bipartisan majority in the Senate voted Saturday to send a sprawling housing bill to the White House, economists, consumer advocates and other analysts said the package of programs for cash-strapped homeowners and shaken mortgage lenders is unlikely to relieve the foreclosure crisis that is driving the nation toward recession. ...more

July 27, 2008

Barack Obama Meets Gordon Brown, Tony Blair LONDON (AP) - Presidential contender Barack Obama was meeting Saturday with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the last leg of his European and Middle Eastern tour. ...more

July 27, 2008

The Senate cleared the last hurdle Friday to passing a housing rescue aimed at sparing hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure and bolstering troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. ...more

July 26, 2008