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The second-biggest provider of of U.S. residential mortgage funding, Freddie Mac, announced today that its loss widened to $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter as the housing and credit crises worsened. The government-chartered company said the net loss increased from $401 million in the year-earlier period. It is coming off a $1.2 billion loss for… Continue reading Freddie Mac Posts $2.5B in Fourth-Quarter Losses

Today Moody’s Investors Service announced that it may consider cutting its bank financial strength rating on Fannie Mae, the largest provider of financing for U.S. home loans, after it reported a $3.6 billion quarterly loss. However, the agency did affirm Fannie Mae’s Aaa senior debt and Prime-1 short-term debt ratings with a stable outlook. “This… Continue reading Moody’s: Fannie Mae’s Rating May be Cut After Quarterly Loss Report

Reed Elsevier Plc agreed to buy ChoicePoint Inc. for $3.5 billion, adding the biggest U.S. provider of information services for the insurance industry to its LexisNexis database.     Reed Elsevier will pay $50 a share in cash. The London-based company also will sell a unit that publishes 135 trade magazines including Variety, the bible… Continue reading ChoicePoint Acquired by LexisNexis Owner Reed Elsevier

The Justice Department approved UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s takeover of Sierra Health Services on the condition that certain assets in the Las Vegas area be divested. The Justice Department said it will require divestiture of assets relating to UnitedHealth’s Las Vegas Medicare Advantage business. In March, UnitedHealth agreed to buy Sierra Health for about $2.6 billion,… Continue reading UnitedHealth Purchase of Sierra Health Approved

New York Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is taking on State Farm Group, writing a letter to CEO Edward Rust Jr. questioning his company’s plans to non-renew certain policies in Long Island. The senator in the letter said she was “particularly concerned about the hardship that this drastic decision could pose for… Continue reading Senators in NY Take On State Farm over Non-Renewals in L.I.

A.M. Best has completed its assessment of the U.S. commercial market and continues to view the outlook as stable for 2008 despite the ongoing soft period in the cycle. Commercial lines carriers have bolstered their positions after robust earnings in recent years by investing in price monitoring tools, predictive modeling, distribution channels and claims systems.… Continue reading A.M. Best: Commercial Lines Market Also Stable

A.M. Best Co. has maintained a stable outlook for the personal lines segment in 2008 based on continued operating profitability, strong balance sheets and anticipation of ongoing underwriting discipline.    Although results deteriorated modestly in 2007 relative to prior years, they remained favorable due to price adequacy, underwriting segmentation, modest catastrophe losses and continued risk… Continue reading A.M. Best: Outlook for Personal Lines for ’08 Stable

Staving off the prospect of more bank losses and market declines, MBIA Inc’s “Aaa” rating was reaffirmed after Moody’s Investors Service dropped its immediate threat to cut the world’s bond insurer’s top rating.    While downgrades are still possible, especially if MBIA, the world’s biggest bond insurer, splits its business lines, the latest action eased… Continue reading Moody Confirms MBIA’s Top Rating

The largest U.S. luxury home builder, Toll Brothers Inc., reported a quarterly loss after recording heavy write-downs during its fiscal first quarter.     Earlier today Toll announced it made a first-quarter loss of $96 million, or 61 cents per share, for the quarter ended January 31, compared with a profit of $54.3 million, or… Continue reading Leading Luxury Home Builder Sees Quarterly Losses Amid Write-downs

Prices of existing U.S. single-family homes slumped 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter versus a year earlier, the largest decline in the 20-year history of a national home price index released on Tuesday. The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 10 metropolitan areas fell 2.3 percent in December versus November, to 200.55, and fell 9.8 percent year-over-year,… Continue reading S&P: Prices of Single-Family Homes Drop