AP - Bradford & Bingley PLC said Friday it is revising its plans to raise new capital after U.S. private equity fund Texas Pacific Group pulled out of an agreement to invest more than $350 million in the British mortgage lender.
AFP - Swiss banking giant UBS, hit hard by the subprime crisis, on Friday said it would break even or report a slight loss for its second quarter thanks to a substantial tax credit.
Investor's Business Daily - 1 The 6th straight monthly payrolls drop was in line with forecasts, though April and May payrolls were revised lower. That bodes ill for the economy, but recessions typically have bigger job cuts. Unemployment stayed at 5.5%, defying forecasts for a dip after May's spike. Factories and home builders slashed staff. Rising jobless claims signal more job losses ahead.
Investor's Business Daily - The benchmark 30-year fixed home loan rate fell 10 basis points to 6.35%, ending a 5-week uptrend to a 9-month peak, mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac said. Weaker economic data made a Fed rate hike less likely, pushing Treasury yields and mortgage rates lower. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage slid 12 ticks to 5.92%. The 1-year ARM fell 10 basis points to 5.17%.
AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages, which had been rising for five straight weeks, posted a decline this week as signals from the Federal Reserve eased worries about imminent rate increases.
Reuters - An even gloomier scenario may be in
store for an already ailing U.S. housing market if the overall
economy slips into a recession, according to UBS Securities
analysts.
AFP - The German bank IKB, which flirted with bankruptcy after the US subprime housing crisis erupted, posted Thursday an annual loss of just 24 million euros (38 million dollars) owing to a favourable tax effect, it said.
Reuters - New foreclosures almost quadrupled in
Los Angeles and more than doubled in Miami in the second
quarter from a year ago, with over $5 billion of mortgages
turning sour in LA alone, real estate research firm
PropertyShark.com said.
AFP - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday that the US economy was enduring "a rough period" and warned that home foreclosures would likely remain high in the near future.
Reuters - Amid a surge in foreclosures in
California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threw his support behind
a bill on Wednesday that would require mortgage lenders to give
a 30-day notice to borrowers falling behind on payments before
filing default notices.
AFP - Home builder Taylor Wimpey fought for its survival on Wednesday as its share price tumbled by more than half after the group failed to secure a refinancing package, traders said.
AFP - Home builder Taylor Wimpey faced collapse after its shares plunged by more than half on Wednesday, having failed to secure a refinancing package to help it weather a downturn to the housing market, traders said.
AP - Construction activity in Britain declined in June at the fastest rate in 11 years, a supply institute said Wednesday, and a major home builder said it had been unable to raise more capital — both signs of worsening conditions in the battered housing industry.
AP - Shares in British food and clothing retailer Marks & Spencer PLC plummeted Wednesday after the company reported that home market sales fell 5.3 percent in the first quarter as the domestic economy slows.
Investor's Business Daily - The electrical grid in the U.S. delivers power along millions of miles of cables to neighborhoods and businesses. Electricity plays a critical role in U.S. society and is vital to the nation's economic strength.
AP - Bank of America Corp. completed its purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp. Tuesday, making the Charlotte-based bank the nation's leading mortgage originator and servicer.
AP - Gov. Mike Easley called on state lawmakers Tuesday to make up for the federal government's inaction by approving a measure to help some struggling North Carolina homeowners by giving them more latitude to repay their debt.
Reuters - U.S. President
George W. Bush said on Tuesday he believed a deal could be
reached with Congress on legislation to help distressed
homeowners stay in their houses.
AFP - The biggest Swiss bank UBS, reeling from huge subprime losses, slashed its chairman's powers and announced four boardroom changes on Tuesday as its shares plunged to a record low point.
Reuters - The U.S. state of Florida hopes to
negotiate a monetary settlement with Bank of America Corp for
what the state calls deceptive lending practices by the bank's
newly acquired mortgage unit, Countrywide Financial Corp, the
state attorney general said on Tuesday.
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