Signs of life in the U.S. housing market combined with JPMorgan's vastly improved bid for Bear Stearns to lift prices sharply higher across global equity markets yesterday, although the dollar remained weak. European shares, reopening after a four-day weekend, were up close to 3 percent, following on from strong gains in Asia. Euro zone government bond prices fell sharply as equities rose. Markets were being driven by Monday's report of a surprising rise in sales of U.S. pre-owned homes last month.

via turkishdailynews.com.tr

The newspaper, without citing sources, said the talks were at an early stage and part of a broader exchange on how to battle the turmoil in financial markets, which has continued despite the injection by central banks of billions of dollars of liquidity and cuts in interest rates. The Bank of England (BoE) appears to be most enthusiastic to explore the idea, which would involve the use of public money to shore up the market in a key financial instrument, the FT said. The US Federal Reserve is open to the idea in principle, but only as a last resort, while the European Central Bank (ECB) is less keen, it said.

via abc.net.au

In an unprecedented move, the Bank of England had to step in to deny there was another Northern Rock-style crisis after 17 per cent was wiped from the value of Halifax Bank of Scotland at one stage on Wednesday. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has launched an inquiry into market abuse, accusing traders of spreading false rumours and dealing off the back of them. Sally Dewar, managing director, wholesale and institutional markets at the FSA, said: "We will not tolerate market participants taking advantage of the current market conditions to commit abuse by spreading false rumours and dealing on the back of them."

via oceanfm.co.uk

Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross will pay $1.1 billion for H&R Block's troubled Option One mortgage servicing business, which has been rocked by the nationwide mortgage meltdown. Option One currently services about $53 billion of subprime mortgages, ranking it the fourth-largest in the nation. H&R Block (HRB, Fortune 500) previously shut down Option One's mortgage origination activities after exiting an earlier sale agreement with Cerberus Capital Management in December.

via money.cnn.com

Japan's main stock index has fallen 3.7 percent Monday as the dollar sank to a 12 1/2-year low against the yen. Investors are also jittery over news that JP Morgan Chase is buying rival investment bank Bear Stearns, which has been battered by its exposure to bets on risky mortgages. Invesors see the takeover as a sign that the credit crisis problems are deep and not going away. The Nikkei 225 stock index sank 454 points, or 3.7 percent, to 11,787.51. Earlier, it had fallen as much as 4.5 percent.

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H&R Block has signed an agreement to sell its troubled mortgage servicing business for $1.1 billion to billionaire investor Wilbur Ross. Rocked by the nationwide mortgage meltdown, Option One Mortgage's $53 billion in subprime loans is the nation's fourth-largest among subprime lenders. Kansas City-based H&R Block shut down Option One's mortgage originations after an earlier sale agreement fell through. The purchase will make WL Ross and Company the country's second-largest subprime servicing portfolio, after Countrywide Financial.

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Stock investors redoubled their efforts near the end of trading Tuesday after the Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 420 points, its largest one-day point gain since 2003. The S &P 500 added 54 points to 1,330. And the Nasdaq Composite Index surged 91 points to 2,268. Advancing issues topped decliners by a commanding 8-to-1 margin. Volume on the NYSE was 5.2 billion shares. Nasdaq stock market volume was 2.3 billion.

via koco.com

The strong Canadian dollar continued to eat away at Canada's inflation rate in February as prices rose a modest 1.8 per cent on an annualized basis last month, compared with 2.2 per cent in January. This was the lowest rate of overall price increases in six months, Statistics Canada said. The core index which the Bank of Canada uses to gauge underlying inflationary pressures rose slightly for the first time since June, to 1.5 per cent from 1.4 per cent on an annualized basis.

via topix.net

CITIC Securities says it might not proceed with a deal to invest about $US1 billion ($A1.08 billion) in Bear Stearns because of the US investment bank's financial crisis. China's largest listed brokerage said it would "conduct an overall evaluation" of the deal after Bear, saying its liquidity position had worsened, obtained an emergency funding arrangement on Friday with the US Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase.

via news.theage.com.au

John Liotti has a vision for East Palo Alto, and it involves low-interest loans. With the support and help of several community members, Liotti last December launched Community Trust Credit Union, the city's first credit union. He's hoping that a combination of cheaper car loans and mortgages, eventual small-business financing and an alternative to the expensive check-cashing outlets in the city will help locals save and succeed financially.

via insidebayarea.com

The volatile Wall Street market has sparked vast losses at major banks and has also exposed the trillion-dollar trade in mortgage-backed securities, corporate and municipal bonds and other complex securities. Mounting losses on mortgage securities have affected other complex debt instruments and deepened a credit crunch that has reverberated around the world. The secretive nature of a market where trades occur between banks rather than on an open exchange appears to have scared off buyers in the current uncertain climate.

via australiannews.net

Ron Sandler, boss of newly nationalised Northern Rock, will this week reveal plans to cut between 2,000 and 2,500 jobs as the stricken lender is shrunk in an attempt to repay its £25bn taxpayer loan within three years.
# News from the banking and financial services sector. The business plan for the state-owned bank will be submitted to European regulators for clearance on Monday. Mr Sandler will unveil a strategy to scale back mortgage lending while luring in new retail savings in an attempt to make Northern Rock attractive to potential future buyers.

via telegraph.co.uk

Writedowns on investments hit by the crisis in the US sub-prime mortgage market rose to £2.5bn from an original forecast of £1.25bn.The bank said group operating profit, including the recently-purchased ABN Amro, was up 9% to £10.3bn ($20.4bn).

via news.bbc.co.uk

The bank reporting season is drawing to a close. Royal Bank of Scotland today and HSBC next week complete the narrative.

via theherald.co.uk

Troubled French bank Societe Generale SA said Thursday that a trading scandal and writedowns linked to the crisis in financial markets led to a net loss in the fourth quarter last year.

via topix.net