Fannie Mae's (FNH) report of a third-quarter loss of $19.76 billion and subsequent plea to the federal government for $15 billion in additional aid is sure to intensify a big question that so far has gone unanswered: What can be done to stem the bleeding at the giant mortgage lender and its sibling Freddie Mac (FRE)? Given this week's bankruptcy filing by CIT, which will probably lead to the loss of $2.3 billion in taxpayer money, Fannie Mae's request for another $15 billion will strike many as throwing more good money after bad.

Fannie Mae had previously posted second-quarter losses of $14.8 billion, on top of $23.2 billion of red ink in the first quarter, leading Morningstar equity analyst Matthew Warren to write in a report: "Nothing fundamentally has changed with the situation at Fannie Mae, and we remain quite certain that the equity shares are worthless barring a ridiculous public policy decision on the part of the U.S. government."

American International Group Inc. (AIG) posted its second straight profit Friday morning of $455 million, or 68 cents a share, as investment losses narrowed and catastrophe costs declined. But revenue fell at life and property-casualty operations. Shares fell over 10 percent ahead of the bell.

Starbucks (SBUX), late Thursday, reported higher earnings, saying adjusted profit of 24 cents per share, beating the 21-cents-per share estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters mostly due to cost cutting measures. The coffee chain lifted its fiscal 2010 adjusted earnings guidance due to improving traffic in its stores. Shares jumped about 4 percent in premarket trade.

The news just keeps getting worse at embattled mortgage finance company Fannie Mae (FNM). The Washington, D.C.-based company, which buys up mortgages from banks, posted on Thursday a staggering $18.9 billion loss -- its ninth consecutive deficit -- as it incurred more expenses stemming from foreclosed properties. The news forced the outfit, which already has a $200 billion credit facility with the U.S. government, to hit up the feds for another $15 billion, the company said in a statement.

On the plus side, Fannie Mae, which has been under government receivership since last year, said its third-quarter revenue rose 6 percent to $5.9 billion from $5.6 billion in the previous quarter, as net interest income rose.

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Goldman Sachs (GS), which quickly turned back into a profitable institution after taking bailout money from the government, now wants to reduce its taxes on that profit by buying tax credits from Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae earned those tax credits by encouraging low-income housing, but can't take advantage of them because it's not making any profits.

Enter Goldman Sachs, which has swooped in to offer cash in exchange for the tax credits, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which was unable to find out what Goldman plans to pay for them. Obviously, for Goldman to make money on the deal, it must buy the tax credits for less than they will be worth to it in tax savings. How much less is the big question.

Ford Motor Co. (F) is no doubt this morning's story. The automaker, the only one of the Big Three American car manufacturers that didn't take a direct government bailout and stayed out of bankruptcy protection, reported a surprising $1 billion profit Monday morning. Ford reported net income of $997 million, or 29 cents per share. On an adjusted basis, Ford reported a quarterly pretax profit of $1.1 billion, or 26 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $3 billion or $1.32. This handily beat analyst estimates ranging from 12 to 20 cents loss per share. Ford still faces obstacles in its turnaround, but so far proved to be able to weather the storm and, in fact raised its own forecast from a break-even or better 2011 to "solidly profitable" 2011. Shares of Ford shot up over 8 percent in pre-market trading.

Shares of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) tumbled Monday after a Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst downgraded the two to the firm's lowest rating, saying their common and preferred shares would be "worthless" given the nearly $100 billion they will continue to owe the government, even if recapitalized.

Fannie shares fell 26 cents, or 17.8 percent, to $1.20. Freddie shares tumbled 31 cents, or 18 percent, to $1.41.

How would an optimist view the financial world, one year after the start of the global financial crisis? Well, to start with one would point to the everyday, hum-drum reality of commerce: day-to-day commercial transactions are taking place and business as we know it in the United States is still occurring.

That may not seem like a major achievement. But consider that about a year ago the global financial system came within hours of a complete meltdown -- a financial crash that certainly would have rivaled the Great Depression in economic, social, and political impact.

Remember when markets were efficient and self-correcting, the subprime crisis was contained, the U.S. economy was decoupled from the rest of the world -- and all you needed to be Fed chairman was an abiding love of Ayn Rand?

If nothing else, the market's movements over the last year -- or ever since the global financial system went down like the Hindenburg -- have disabused us of such quaint notions regarding the wonderful world of equities. Forget about trading on technicals and fundamentals. The market runs on Fear and Greed.

About this time in 2008 the Dow Jones Industrial Average and broader S&P 500 were down roughly 15 percent for the year. Those were some seriously painful declines -- but, brother, does a measly 15 percent shellacking look good right about now.

It was a year ago this week that the federal government seized ailing mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE). Their collapse, it was feared, could imperil the entire financial system. The takeover wasn't meant to be permanent, but a new congressional report illustrates why it may be especially challenging to undo.

The reason? Privatizing Fannie and Freddie "credibly" will be exceptionally difficult because investors will probably expect that the government will simply swoop in again with another bailout should the companies run into trouble later, according to an assessment by the Government Accountability Office (PDF).

Trying to get out there first with a proposal for the future of Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is calling for Fannie and Freddie to be broken up into several smaller privately held companies that issue securities with an explicit government guarantee, not just an implied guarantee, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The Obama administration has not yet issued its recommendations and they're not expected until next year. The Center for American Progress plans to issue its report on the future of housing finance this fall.

August is known as a quiet month for the stock market, as many institutional investors and traders take advantage of the waning summer to go on vacation. Trading volume dries up, and some large price swings can be attributed to the lack of liquidity, but this news about the concentrated nature of trading is truly odd.

According to Reuters, four beaten-up financial companies -- Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Fannie Mae (FNM), and Freddie Mac (FRE) -- have accounted for upwards of 40 percent of the trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange to begin this week.