- AP - A week ago, it totaled just three pages the White House's request for $700 billion to rescue tottering financial institutions by buying their devalued mortgage-related assets. - 
AP - As the debate over a $700 billion bank bailout rages on in Washington, one of the nation's largest banks Washington Mutual Inc. has collapsed under the weight of its enormous bad bets on the mortgage market.
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AFP - The Australian government announced Friday it would invest four billion dollars (3.32 billion US dollars) in the mortgage market in response to the global credit crunch.
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Reuters - Wachovia Corp and National City Corp shares tumbled as talks on a $700 billion government bailout of the financial sector stalled and regulators seized Washington Mutual Inc .
- Reuters - U.S. lawmakers faced growing pressure on Friday to agree on a $700 billion financial rescue plan after talks collapsed in acrimony and the biggest bank closure in U.S. history roiled global markets. President George W. Bush acknowledged there were disagreements, but expressed optimism that Congress and the White House would come together on the proposal to rescue the U.S. financial system. - AP - JPMorgan Chase & Co. Inc. acquired the assets of Washington Mutual Inc.'s banking operations Thursday after federal regulators seized the ailing thrift, the country's largest. - Reuters - A group of conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives offered a mortgage insurance plan on Thursday as an alternative to the Bush administration's $700-billion Wall Street bailout. - Reuters - The chief regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said on Thursday he had no option but to seize control of the two mortgage finance companies in early September because they had grown so unstable. - FT.com - The Merrill Lynch executives who took the decision to sell off a bunch of complex mortgage-related debt assets at about 22 cents in the dollar during the summer could have good reason to feel peeved once the US market bail-out plan is finalised. - 
AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages, which had been falling for five weeks, jumped sharply this week, reflecting the turbulence in global credit markets.
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Reuters - Struggling savings and loan Washington Mutual Inc is still talking to buyers about selling itself, but first needs to hammer out whether it or the buyer would get government support.
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Reuters - Washington Mutual Inc , the large U.S. savings and loan company crippled by mortgage losses, has approached private equity firms about a potential takeover after listed firms showed reluctance, the Wall Street Journal.
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Reuters - The FBI is investigating Fannie Mae , Freddie Mac , Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and insurer American International Group Inc , expanding its probe of potential corporate fraud, law enforcement officials said on Wednesday.
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AP - Oil prices ended a choppy session slightly lower Wednesday, falling below $106 a barrel as weak U.S. fuel demand and a stronger dollar outweighed concerns over a reduction in global crude output.
- Reuters - Applications for U.S. home mortgages retreated to sluggish levels last week as rising interest rates spoiled a spurt in loan refinancing, according to data published from an industry group on Wednesday.
