Archive for March 19th, 2008

An additional $200 billion in financing is headed to the battered mortgage markets after federal regulators Wednesday said they would allow finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce the capital they keep on hand.

A fresh chill is blowing through the once-scorching mobile phone market. This time the source is Sony Ericsson, which warned Wednesday of a steep profit shortfall.

Stocks slipped Wednesday afternoon, after a mixed morning in which investors weighed the previous session's rally, better-than-expected earnings from Morgan Stanley and news that regulators will let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy more home loans.

Following last year's exposés of neglect at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, one might get the impression that soldiers injured in action are simply dumped by the armed forces with little care or compensation.

In October 2006, after seven weeks as a patient at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. - four of them in intensive care - 1st Lieut. Ivan Castro was still in bad shape. The month before, he'd been hit by mortar fire during combat in Iraq, shrapnel ripping through his body, causing multiple injuries that had left him near death.

Visa, the credit card issuer that set an IPO pricing record, popped when it debuted Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange at $59.50, up 35% from its $44-a-share IPO price.

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An additional $200 billion in financing is headed to the battered mortgage markets after federal regulators Wednesday said they would allow finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce the capital they keep on hand.

Read full story for latest details.