BUSINESS BRIEFS
Bernanke says Fannie, Freddie in 'no danger'
Associated Press
WASHINGTON Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress yesterday that troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in "no danger of failing."
The Fed chief made his remarks to the House Financial Services Committee, his second day on Capitol Hill where he briefed lawmakers on the problems plaguing the economy.
The Fed and the Treasury Department on Sunday came to the rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, offering to throw them a financial lifeline. The two companies hold or guarantee more than $5 trillion in mortgages almost half of the nation's total and are major sources of financing for the mortgage market.
OIL PRICES DROP FOR SECOND DAY
NEW YORK Oil prices settled sharply lower for the second time in a row yesterday, leaving crude more than $10 cheaper in just two days of frenzied trading and prompting speculation that the hard-charging market may be running out of steam.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell $4.14 to settle at $134.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier sinking as low as $132. The drop follows a $6.44 sell-off Tuesday, crude's biggest since the Gulf War.
The two-day slide of $10.58 a barrel marks a dramatic turnaround in crude prices, which as recently as Friday traded at record highs above $147 a barrel. But even with this week's sell-off, prices remain about 80 percent above where they were a year ago and up about 40 percent from the start of the year.
FBI INVESTIGATING INDYMAC FAILURE
WASHINGTON The FBI is investigating failed bank IndyMac Bancorp Inc. for possible fraud, an official said yesterday of the government's latest target following the collapse of the nation's subprime mortgage market.
It was not immediately clear how long the FBI's probe of the bank has been ongoing or whether it was opened before last Friday's takeover of IndyMac by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The investigation appears to be is focused on the company and not individuals who ran it, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
SURGE IN PROFITS REPORTED BY EBAY
NEW YORK EBay Inc. said yesterday that its second-quarter profit jumped 22 percent, as the online auction company enjoyed strong growth in its e-commerce sites and its PayPal payments service.
But eBay's outlook for the current quarter was softer than analysts had been forecasting, and the auction company's shares fell 6 percent in after-hours trading. The stock had gained 4.5 percent in regular trading to close at $28.10.
San Jose, Calif.-based eBay earned $460 million, or 35 cents per share, compared with $376 million, or 27 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding certain items, eBay earned 43 cents per share.
That beat Wall Street's forecast for 41 cents per share.
TRUMP MANSION SELLS FOR $100M
PALM BEACH, Fla. The real estate market might be slumping, but not for Donald Trump, who sold his Palm Beach mansion for $100 million, his spokeswoman said yesterday.
"In an age of so many people getting hurt in real estate, it shows that you can still do well in real estate," Trump told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
His spokeswoman says $100 million is the most ever paid for an estate in the U.S., though there is no way to verify that claim.
Russian fertilizer billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev purchased the roughly 60,000-square-foot oceanfront home, which Trump fixed up after buying it for about $41 million in 2004.
