The SEC issued its emergency ruling against naked short-selling Tuesday to build investor confidence regarding market information, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox told CNBC.

U.S. securities regulators issued an emergency rule Tuesday to limit certain types of short selling in major financial firms, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Bill Gross, manager of top bond fund Pimco, said on Sunday the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve are engineering a "bailout" for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and added that the ailing U.S. mortgage finance giants will likely need to sell preferred stock once approved by government officials.

The market may be headed south, but that doesn't mean your portfolio has to follow suit.  To give investors an edge, CNBC asked the market experts for their best stock picks now.

Italy's Generali has pulled out of the bidding for Royal Bank of Scotland's insurance arm just hours ahead of a first bid deadline on Wednesday, prompting speculation that interest in the asset is fading.

Stocks closed lower Friday, weighed down by another record for oil prices and dismal results from insurance giant AIG.

Stocks opened lower, weighed down by AIG after the insurer posted dismal earnings.

Stocks opened lower, weighed down by AIG after the insurer posted dismal earnings.

Europe's biggest insurer Allianz unveiled writedowns from the global financial crisis of 900 million euros ($1.4 billion) in the first quarter and said the turmoil could endanger its medium-term goals.

Dresdner Bank, part of the Allianz insurance group, intends to support a rescue package for U.S. bond insurer Ambac Financial Group with a sum in the low double-digit millions of euros, the head of Dresdner's investment banking operations said on Monday.

Allianz moved to shore up the $19 billion structured investment vehicle K2 managed by its Dresdner Bank unit and said it was rolling back its business in complex finance products hit hard by global credit turmoil.

Standard & Poor's fired a fresh shot across the bows of the battered European banking sector on Wednesday, cutting its outlook on five European banks to negative from stable, suggesting downgrades are more likely.

It will take at least a year to assess the impact that the fallout of the U.S. subprime crisis has on the European banking sector, but investors can bottom fish for some good opportunities, analysts said on Monday.

Europe's largest insurer Allianz dispelled investor worries of big subprime write-downs
on Friday by revealing it had hit its 2007 profit targets despite the credit turmoil in the fourth quarter.

Two major insurers are launching "green" insurance programs that will let homeowners reconstruct their property with more environmentally friendly building materials.