For players in New York and officials in Washington, Saturday brings no rest. There would be more such weekends to come.
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The U.S. plans to bring mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under Federal control, according to reports. If so, it would be the biggest financial bailout in American history. And as Steve Liesman reports, Fannie and Freddie shareholders are facing the prospect of losing all of their investment.
Shares of Fannie and Freddie — which had rebounded since Aug. 21 on investor belief that such government moves might be averted — had plunged in after-hours trading in New York on Friday.
Fannie and Freddie together have now lost $14 billion in losses in the past four quarters, as the US housing boom deflates.
What You Were Reading:
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"People have priced in an equity infusion that would wipe out shareholders," says Chuck Gabriel, managing director at Capital Alpha Partners. "On the other hand, they have come to understand you wouldn't have such an event without the GSEs agreeing to it."
Elsewhere in the crisis landscape, Japan's Nomura Holdings is considering acquiring a stake in Lehman Brothers, the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reports on Saturday.
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Nomura has a fund exceeding 200 billion yen ($1.86 billion at the time) for investing in or acquiring US and European financial institutions, the Japanese brokerage's CEO Kenichi Watanabe, tells the newspaper.
Watanabe says Lehman was one of several candidates and that Nomura would decide whether to make an investment offer after confirming Lehman's business results, which could come as early as next week, and after checking share price moves.
State-controlled Korea Development Bank remains in the running as a possible bidder for Lehman.