Derivative Securities

Since about 95% of home loans being written today are being placed into mortgage-backed securities that are sold in the market with guarantees by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae, what would happen with a government default?   These are federal...

Ted Forstmann, a longtime Wall Street financier and philanthropist who was a major player during the wave of corporate takeovers in the 1980s, including the battle for RJR Nabisco in 1988, died Sunday. He was 71. The cause was brain cancer, according...

The Federal Reserve held policy steady after a two-day meeting, citing signs of improved economic growth. The Fed’s post-meeting statement Wednesday was as expected. Most economists figured the central bank wouldn’t announce any new...

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is paying $153.6 million to settle accusations that it misled investors about mortgage-backed securities it sold just as the financial crisis was beginning. The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a complaint filed in Manhattan...

The Treasury Department said Wedneday it had recovered about 65% of the $225 billion it spent to purchase mortgage-backed securities to help stabilize the housing market during the financial crisis as the government continues to slowly sell off its...

Bloomberg News reports: Morgan Stanley (MS) was sued for fraud by Allstate Insurance Co. over residential mortgage-backed securities in which the insurer invested, according to …...

Don't tell Marc Andreessen there's a bubble in Silicon Valley. "We don't think there is," Andreessen said during an interview with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the All Things Digital Conference on Wednesday night. Andreessen, 39, who helped invent......

You might assume it's just another boring-looking piece of the paper blitz you're hit with when you apply for a home loan. But given IRS Form 4506-T's new prominence in the fraud-shocked mortgage market, it's much more than just another document to sign....

WASHINGTON - Banks are successfully managing agricultural loan risk associated with rising farmland prices, said Matthew H. Williams, president of Gothenburg State Bank in Gothenburg, Neb., and vice chairman of the American Bankers Association at an...

WASHINGTON - Rising wholesale prices for food and energy are putting pressure on manufacturers and retailers to pass higher costs to customers. It's a trend that could raise inflation in the United States and slow economies in Asia and Latin America. U....

Losing jobs but not hope. The American economy lost 95,000 more jobs last month, but investors are hopeful because the news could force the Federal Reserve to pour more money into the economy. Soros and Greenspan are gloomy. In separate......