![]()
- GE, Vivendi Agree to Value NBCU Stake at $5.8 Billion
- Tuesday's ISM in Focus as Bulls Call for Turn in Dollar
- Dubai Markets Open Sharply Lower for Second Day
- Dubai World to Restructure About $26 Billion of Debt
- Cramer: Dubai Can’t Sink These 6 Dividend Stocks
- White House to Crank Up Pressure on Mortgage Industry
- Treasury Threatens Banks, Not Borrowers
- Good Sign for the Economy: 'Greed' Makes a Comeback
- The World's Biggest Debtor Nations
- Treasury Threatens Banks, Not Borrowers
- We're Approaching a Market Bubble: Portfolio Manager
- Hershey Shares: What Options Are Saying
- Nov. 30: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Why Careful Shoppers Are Great for the Box Office
- Blue Nile CEO: 'We're Having the Best Cyber Monday Ever'
- Best Online Retailers to Buy Now: Internet Analyst
- ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue: A Financial Success
- Cyber Monday: The Last Vestige of Dotcom Hype
MOST SHARED
- Timeless and Time-Tested Warren Buffett Watch Predictions
- Goldman Sachs Party Ban: No Gatherings of 12 or More
- Should Homeowners Be Able To Walk Away From Mortgage?
- Dubai World Set to Restructure About $26 Billion of Total Debt
- Good Sign for the Economy: 'Greed' Makes a Comeback
- Bove: 26 Banks May Need To Raise More Capital
- Notre Dame Fires Charlie Weis After 5 Seasons
- Blue Nile CEO: 'We're Having the Best Cyber Monday Ever'
- Oil Demand Sees Year-Over-Year Rise, First Since 2007
- Treasury Threatens Banks, Not Borrowers
Shares of several subprime lenders rebounded sharply on Thursday, including Accredited Home Lenders, which skyrocketed on speculation it might be acquired.
The stocks have been helped over the past two days as talks accelerates about large investment banks eyeing purchases in the subprime arena. Bear Stearns [BSC
Loading...
()
], Wall Street's largest underwriter of mortgage-backed securities, said earlier Thursday that it could buy subprime loans from troubled lenders.
The financial sector has been under pressure since last week, as problems within the subprime industry, which makes loans to borroweres with poor or spotty credit histories, spread. Several lawmakers have stepped up the effort to find out what went wrong in the home finance market and how it could be fixed. In the latest development, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that his office is looking into the sector.
Default rates in the subprime segment of the U.S. mortgage market have jumped in recent months as the housing industry slowed and prices fell. At least 20 lenders in the subprime mortgage sector, which serves borrowers with poor credit histories at high interest rates, have gone out of business as a result.
But as concerns that the beleaguered mortgage sector could hurt the economy wore on, several subprime lenders were climbing higher.
Accredited Home Lenders [LEND
Loading...
()
] soared amid speculation it might get a capital infusion or be acquired, with Goldman Sachs [GS
Loading...
()
] cited by traders as a possible partner.
Accredited was not immediately available for comment and Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Accredited has said it needs to raise money after paying $190 million that lenders demanded and that it is exploring "strategic options," including raising new capital.
New Century Financial [NEWC
Loading...
()
] - which is reportedly close to bankruptcy and whose shares are being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange - jumped more than 100% percent to $1.40 on the Pink Sheets. The stock's price gains came after Bear Stearns
Shares of IndyMac Bancorp [NDE
Loading...
()
], which specializes in making loans to creditworthy customers who don't have enough documentation to get prime loans, rose after releasing a statement on Thursday clarifying its "minimal" subprime exposure. It said subprime loans represented only 3% of its $90 billion loan production last year.
The company, which earlier this month warned that this year's profit would likely be lower than in 2006, also said its asset-backed securitizations classified as subprime total $6.8 billion and represented just 4.4% of its $156 billion portfolio of loans serviced as of Dec. 31.
Shares of Impac Mortgage [IMH
Loading...
()
] also rose earlier even though it said on Wednesday that the percentage of delinquent loans in its long-term mortgage portfolio doubled to 6.12%.
Impac President William Ashmore told Reuters he is comfortable with the company's current liquidity position and also said he's made an effort to make sure his company doesn't get lumped in with subprime lenders.
Impac - which extends loans to borrowers who don't qualify for loans backed by government agencies, but who have better credit than subprime - has limited exposure to the troubled sector. But the company could still hurt by the same issues plaguing subprime.
Other subprime lenders on the rebound include Novastar Financial [NFI
Loading...
()
]and Fremont General [FMT
Loading...
()
], which recently received a cease-and-desist order from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over its subprime mortgage and commerical real estate lending practices.
- Ever wished your cab driver would stop chatting and just get to where you're going? Well, that moment is closer than ever.
- UPS is giving its customers the option to offset its carbon emissions when sending a package.
- Romania's presidential campaign has been rocked by a video that may show the president striking a 10-year-old boy.
- Raising alligators is hard work, and the fickle taste of rich consumers has just made it much harder, says the NY Times.
- A recent issue of ESPN Magazine was one of its top sellers ever, and it only took scantily clad athletes to make it happen.
- The continued real estate boom in China is partially fueled by a generational flood of newlyweds.











