Business - Personal Finance

WASHINGTON - Mortgage rates held below the 5 percent threshold for the third straight week as the Federal Reserve prepares to end a program that has kept rates at or near record lows. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Current Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities are likely to retain U.S. government backing should Congress create a new system for financing U.S. homes, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday. Full Story »

Surprise, surprise. As expected, the Federal Reserve on Tuesday held short-term interest rates unchanged at historic lows and maintained that it will keep rates low for an extended period of time. The central bank also reiterated its pledge to stop buying mortgage-backed securities at the end of this month. However, the Fed did upgrade its assessment of the economy. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - Last year, the message was clear. Now it is murky. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Wells Fargo & Co. has become the second bank to sign up for a government program to modify second mortgages. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - The federal bank bailout watchdog is planning to scrutinize the formula used by mortgage companies to evaluate borrowers for the Obama administration $75 billion mortgage relief program. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae, the largest provider of U.S. residential funding, on Wednesday slashed its forecast for residential investment this quarter following a "setback" in home sales, and warned on its impact on the economic recovery. Full Story »

The government keeps promoting programs designed to help existing homeowners refinance their mortgages at a lower rate, as well as get perspective buyers into homes. In other words, Uncle Sam says he's here to help. "Phooey," say homeowners and prospective homeowners, who keep complaining that it is ridiculously hard to get a mortgageor refinance one. Can both sides be right? Unfortunately, yes. But if you are willing to do a bit more work than in the past, it is possible to lower your mortgage rate to 5% or arrange to buy your first home. It is clear that there is pent-up demand to do both. ... Full Story »

Over the last several months, I've written a lot about the current state of residential real estate, and the opportunities made available by the combination of lower housing prices and falling interest rates. As we approach the end of this year's residential real estate buying-and-selling season, this is a good time to start thinking about what might lie ahead. Full Story »

SEOUL (Reuters) - Korea Life Insurance Co (088350.KS) shares closed up 8 percent in heavy trading on their debut on Wednesday, signaling keen demand ahead of bigger rival Samsung Life's planned $4 billion IPO in May. Full Story »

WILMINGTON, Del. - A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Tuesday refused to halt implementation of his order allowing auto parts supplier Visteon Corp. to terminate its retirees' health and life insurance benefits. Full Story »

Justice Department lawyers are seeking to shut down a Huntington Beach, Calif., tax preparation service accused of attempting to obtain $15 million in fraudulent tax refund checks. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The end of the Federal Reserve's program of purchasing $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities at the end of March is a form of tightening monetary policy, the chief of the largest U.S. bond fund manager said on Tuesday. Full Story »

HOUSING STARTS: Construction of new homes and apartments fell 5.9 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 575,000 units. Full Story »

It doesn't take a genius to recall that ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM - News) is the biggest of Big Oil. So with that fact out of the way, those with a yen for investing in energy are left to question whether the company is also the best of its group. Full Story »

Just like the chocolate purist in those old ads who protested the delectable combination, coal investors protested CONSOL Energy's (NYSE: CNX - News) deeper dip into natural gas Monday with a 10% sell-off, dropping shares beneath $49 apiece. Although swallowing fossil fuels is never a good idea, investors may wish to "taste" this unique combination of fuels before protesting themselves. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. housing starts fell last month as winter storms disrupted construction, and another drop in building permits suggested the weakness would linger. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Housing starts and permits to build new homes both fell in February as winter storms in some parts of the country disrupted home building, a government report showed on Tuesday. Full Story »