20 March 2008
US stocks down as oil leads a commodity sell off and profit taking, Dow currently -1.11%.
The two largest U.S. Mortgage finance companies on Wednesday won approval to pump up to $200 billion into the distressed U.S. Mortgage market. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said it was immediately easing restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to give them a bigger role. It said they should be able to buy or gaurantee about $2 trillion total in mortgages this year. Morgan Stanley reported earnings that fell less than analysts estimated as record equity sales and trading offset write doens from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market. Morgan reported a 42 percent drop in first-quarter net income, to $1.55 billion.