The rescue of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost as much as $363 billion over the next three years -- more than double the amount spent so far -- the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Thursday.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett extracted onerous terms from Goldman Sachs when he saved it from a potential meltdown. Two years later, Wall Street is healthy again, Goldman wants Buffett out of its hair, and he's looking at a $3.5 billion profit on that $5 billion lifeline.
Morgan Stanley is expected to report sharp declines in third-quarter earnings and revenue ahead of Wednesday's opening bell, hurt by months of weak trading activity. The financial giant is forecast to post earnings of 15 cents a share, less than half the 38 cents a share booked a year ago.
Investors received another sign Friday that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal: The 2010 U.S. budget deficit came in at a smaller-than-predicted $1.29 trillion. Though it was still the second-highest deficit on record, the numbers reflect growth in tax revenues, and thus in the economy.
Three years ago, the financial crisis spread across the globe, dragging the world into its deepest recession in seven decades. Now, the U.S. recovery is losing momentum, but economists say this time, when America sneezes, the world doesn't have to catch a cold.
The mortgage-backed securities meltdown whose effects still haunt our economy sprang from a simple cause: The rules of the game gave big incentives to every player involved to ignore the problems and keep collecting their fees. And despite financial reform, those rules haven't changed much.
As a final capper to our look at Wall Street two years after the peak of the financial crisis, we offer a different look at the masters of the universe who played the game, ruled the street, and walked away with wheelbarrow loads of cash. We've matched shots of some of the coldest, hardest predators in the world... and a bunch of cuddly reptiles.
Since Lehman's collapse in September 2008, regulators around the world have begun erecting a scaffolding of new rules and regulations designed limit excessive risk-taking. The big question is: Are they enough to prevent another financial crisis?
Warren Buffett continued to sell his stake in Moody's, the credit ratings agency faulted for contributing to the financial crisis because of the rating it issued to new and complex high-risk investments during the height of the housing bubble.
Many aspects of the financial crisis are still with us. But when it comes to one of the most profound economic impacts of the 2008 meltdown -- the downright seizure of credit markets -- things could hardly be more different now than during the height of the crisis.
"It felt like the world was on fire," recalls financial writer Andrew Ross Sorkin, whose book Too Big To Fail covers the crisis at its peak. In an interview, he discusses the meltdown, its aftermath, the quest for power on Wall Street and why more regulation is still needed.
The capital markets have recovered nicely from the depths of the financial crisis's despair, though skittishness remains. What the economy sorely needs now is the next big thing -- perhaps a new technology that boosts business productivity.
September marks the anniversary of two events that rocked the markets: the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack and the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008. Today, many people worry about the possibility of a terrorist attack on the financial system. International economist Rex Ghosh, who has written a novel about just that, discusses the threat.
In a new article, political scientist Ian Bremmer and economist Nouriel Roubini assert that the free-market system of capitalism has been so damaged by the recent financial crisis that the West's era of political and economic dominance may be gone for good.
Credit card use plunged for the sixth straight month in July, with total consumer debt falling by $3.6 billion, or 1.75%, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced Wednesday.
Lehman Brothers Holdings, the once great Wall Street firm that went bankrupt at the height of the financial crisis, says it will have to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into two struggling units to avoid failures that could cost the investment bank billions.
Europe's shakiest economies managed to ride out a sovereign debt crisis this spring with a lot of help from their more stable neighbors and the major central banks. But new data suggests we may soon see a replay of the debt default crisis.
Some hedge-fund managers are having a tough year. After suffering unusual losses, two well-known managers, Stanley Druckenmiller of Duquesne Capital and Paolo Pellegrini of PSQR, are leaving the business.
Since the recession began, more than 8 million Americans have lost their jobs. But perhaps even more surprising is the small number of companies that are responsible for laying off such a large percentage of today's unemployed workers.
Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan is calling for the complete repeal of the Bush tax cuts, a position that goes further than that of the White House. President Obama advocates keeping tax rates steady for all but the richest Americans.
Beyond Europe's debt crisis and difficulties with the euro, the region's underlying economy -- which has been much less involved with financial gimmicks than its American counterpart -- tends to be more stable than it's generally given credit for.
Some analysts are now worried about falling prices, sending big investors fleeing stocks for safer assets. But earnings are healthy and pockets of strength are emerging, suggesting it's a good time to go against the grain.
During a speech Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pledged a speedy implementation of the financial system overhaul. One of the first tasks on the list? Simplifying all the paperwork.
In a response to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Goldman said it priced AIG's collateral on the best available market information.
