Stocks News

IT'S shaping up to be another tough week for investors, with choppy conditions tipped for the share market and home loan rate hikes coming into effect.

Two days after the Federal Deposit Insurance Company took over California based IndyMac Bancorp Inc., an official says the bank will reopen Monday for ...

The U.S. government is signaling it won't throw a lifeline to struggling financial companies _ except for mortgage linchpins Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac _ marking a shift to a new and potentially more volatile phase of the credit crisis.

Such an approach could mean beaten-down investment banks like Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and regional banks must now fend for themselves as they try to recover from billions of dollars in mortgage-related losses. That is bound to unnerve Wall Street, already anxious as it awaits financial companies' earnings reports that are expected to be down a stunning 69 percent from a year ago when all the numbers are in.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Sunday it is immediately opening a probe to prevent the spread of false information used to manipulate securities prices.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said the investigation is aimed at 'ensuring that investors continue to get reliable, accurate information about public companies in the marketplace.'

The probe comes amid a new bout of turmoil that has gripped investors. Questions have been swirling about the financial health of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Q Isn't it OK to buy stock in a great company at an overvalued price, as long as it eventually goes up? - A.N., VAIL, COLO.

Trees are silhouetted by the orange glow of fire July 9, 2008 in Concow, California.

Raised on Wall Street's buy-and-hold primer that's been spoon-fed to the first generation of 401 investors, many Baby Boomers gritted their teeth and stayed with the stock market through the 2000-02 bear.

General Electric Co. reverted to form with no big surprises in its latest earnings report, and investors shocked by an unexpected profit shortfall three months ago showed their appreciation.

A tumbling stock market and faltering economy have many people on edge. Recently, broad market averages approached an official bear market, commonly defined as a 20 percent drop from a recent high.

Unlike the situation facing Bear Stearns earlier this year, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not short of cash.