Personal Finance News

Fitch may lower Fannie, Freddie debt outlook (AP)

NEW YORK – The Fitch ratings agency will likely lower its outlook for debts linked to the U.S. government to negative, including debt of government-controlled mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fitch, one of the three major ratings agencies, said Tuesday it expects to announce the revised outlooks over the next several days....
Read More »

Watchdog: Fannie, Freddie abuses went unchecked (AP)

WASHINGTON – A government watchdog said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac improperly foreclosed on homeowners and cost the government billions of dollars by not holding major banks to strict underwriting requirements. The report released Tuesday also said the Federal Housing Finance Agency gave “undue deference” to Fannie and Freddie officials and didn’t scrutinize more...
Read More »

RBS subsidiary agrees to $52M settlement in Mass. (AP)

BOSTON – The Massachusetts attorney general’s office has announced that a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed to pay $52 million to settle allegations that it played a role in the state’s subprime mortgage crisis. The office announced Monday that more than $40 million of the settlement will be used to...
Read More »

Assured Guaranty files new claims against JPMorgan (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bond insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd filed new claims against JPMorgan Chase Co over a mortgage-backed security sold by Bear Stearns, saying more than 35 witnesses have come forward to testify about how loans in the $337 million transaction were misrepresented. The lawsuit contends Bear Stearns and its EMC mortgage arm,...
Read More »

U.S. credit raters set back on First Amendment: judge (Reuters)

(Reuters) – A federal judge has said credit ratings are not always protected opinion under the First Amendment, a defeat for credit rating agencies in a lawsuit brought by investors who lost money on mortgage-backed securities. The November 12 decision was a little-noticed setback for McGraw-Hill Cos’ (MHP.N) Standard Poor’s, Moody’s Corp’s (MCO.N) Moody’s...
Read More »

Don’t Take Your Eyes Off Mistras (The Motley Fool)

Mistras Group (NYSE: MG – News), which provides technology-enabled non-destructive testing solutions, recently reported better-than-expected results for the first quarter with profits surging a whopping 103%. Let’s take a closer look at the impressive numbers. Rise and fallRevenue increased by 34% to $91.4 million due to increased demand for inspection services along with an...
Read More »

A Big Deal in Smartphones (The Motley Fool)

The 10-year-old joint venture between Sony (NYSE: SNE – News) and Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC – News) is up for renewal. It was this collaboration that gave the world the Walkman music phones and Cyber-shot camera phones, and marked a net profit of approximately $124 million last year. At this point, while Sony is keen...
Read More »