BusinessWeek Online - Individual investors aren't the only ones scared to look at their portfolios. Insurance giants are also watching their holdings wither, a situation that could have serious implications for their customers and the markets. The biggest independent life insurer, MetLife, reported total paper losses of $12.2 billion on its $340 billion portfolio. "You have to plan for things to be depressed for the next few quarters at a minimum," says Steven A. Kandarian, chief investment officer at MetLife.

BusinessWeek Online - It may seem like ancient history now, but not long ago the mortgage industry was turning ordinary people into millionaires. One of them was Sharmen Lane, a high school dropout who, like many other young women during the boom, found her way into an obscure banking job with the clunky title "mortgage wholesaler." Her experience -- and the experiences of other wholesalers like her -- offers a glimpse into the recklessness and indulgence that drove the industry to ruin.

Reuters - U.S. mortgage finance companies should soon adopt a foreclosure prevention plan developed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ease loan terms for troubled borrowers, the companies' overseer said on Thursday.

AP - The nation's financial picture grew darker Thursday, a day marked by breathtaking numbers: a quarter-trillion-dollar budget deficit for a single month and projections of up to $1 trillion for a year, a half-million new applications for unemployment benefits and a 900-point swing on Wall Street.

AP - The nation's financial picture grew darker Thursday, a day marked by breathtaking numbers: a quarter-trillion-dollar budget deficit for a single month, a half-million new applications for unemployment benefits and a 900-point swing that led Wall Street to its third-biggest point gain ever.

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AP - Hundreds of lenders told federal housing officials Thursday that a $300 billion mortgage aid program requires too many losses for consumers and lenders to realistically help 400,000 Americans avoid foreclosure.

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