- China Hires Foreigners to Manage Forex Reserves
- Cutting Jobless Will Take Time: White House's Summers
- GE, Vivendi Agree to Value NBCU Stake at $5.8 Billion
- Tuesday's ISM in Focus as Bulls Call for Turn in Dollar
- Arrest Imminent in Florida Ponzi Case: Report
- 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
- 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
- Dubai World Set to Restructure About $26 Billion of Total Debt
- Dubai Stocks Could Fall a Further 30%: Charts
- Good Sign for the Economy: 'Greed' Makes a Comeback
- Dubai Markets Open Sharply Lower for Second Day
- Should Homeowners Be Able To Walk Away From Mortgage?
- Bove: 26 Banks May Need To Raise More Capital
- Blue Nile CEO: 'We're Having the Best Cyber Monday Ever'
- Treasury Threatens Banks, Not Borrowers
- Notre Dame Fires Charlie Weis After 5 Seasons
Text Size 
Monday sees a dawn for markets--a false dawn, though.
Investors greeted the weekend development of the US Treasury taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, seeing it as a sign the housing problem was under control. Stock markets around the world rocket upward.
 |
Lehman Brothers [LEHMQ
Loading...
()
] stock, however, does not participate in the party, losing 13 percent, despite reports company officials hope to cement plans to raise capital and sell off bad debts sometime in the coming week.
But CNBC's Charlie Gasparino reports that Lehman is moving closer to selling its asset management division—including the "crown jewel," Neuberger Berman—in a sign that other efforts to raise capital have not been successful.
Others are also voicing misgivings: "This euphoria might fade, because Fannie and Freddie are not the problem," Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, tells CNBC. "Their woes are a symptom of a worldwide contraction in credit that may not be cured by the [bailout] decision."
Top investor Jim Rogers denounces the Treasury's moves as "communist" and "insanity":
 |
Elsewhere in the financial industry, Washington Mutual — destined to be bought out by JPMorgan Chase [JPM
Loading...
()
] — ousts Kerry Killinger as its CEO, planning to replace him with Alan Fishman, currently chairman of mortgage broker Meridian Capital Group, according to The Wall Street Journal.
What You Were Reading:
- US Is 'More Communist than China': Jim Rogers
- Lehman Is Moving Closer To Selling Key Business
- What the Fannie Bailout Will and Won't Do
Stocks careen in a way that would become all too familiar to investors through the autumn: The Dow jumps at the opening bell, surging more than 300 points, before pulling back to a more modest mid-200 gain. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were also higher.
Financials lead the market with sharp gains for those that own a lot of Fannie and Freddie debt, including AIG [AIG
Loading...
()
], Citigroup [C
Loading...
()
] and Bank of America [BAC
Loading...
()
]. Homebuilders also rally.
Fannie Mae [FNM
Loading...
()
] and Freddie Mac [FRE
Loading...
()
] , however, plunge about 89 and 83 percent, respectively—but their debt soars, as investors bet that the bailout will wipe out the companies' stockholders but fully guarantee their bonds. Trading in the stocks is suspended in US pre-market and overseas trading.
Tony Crescenzi of Miller Tabak says the bailout was already priced into the market. Where you should be looking, Crescenzi writes, is at the dollar. The bailout will help keep the U.S. dollar's rally going, he says.
The dollar index hits a one-year high against a basket of currencies following the news.
What the Experts Were Saying:
Jim Rogers, CEO of Rogers Holdings, says the nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shows that the U.S. is "more communist than China" — but it's socialism only for the rich.
Lehman Brothers is moving to sell its prized Neuberger Berman unit. Charlie Gasparino reports.
Paul McCulley, Pimco portfolio manager, offers his insights into the government's bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
- 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.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes