Tess Vigeland went back to Fairfax, Va. to check in with the investment club Formerly Baroque. Among the stocks considered: iPhones, farm machinery and some infamous footwear. Will the ladies kick the Crocs to the curb?
The Fed today cut the discount rate — what banks pay to borrow from the Fed — by half a percentage point. Banks use it only when they're in a bind. Like the one they've been in the past couple of weeks. Jill Barshay reports.
Worries about the usually safe investment in "commercial paper" — short-term bonds companies float to run their operations — are trickling through the markets. Moody's chief economist John Lonski explains.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the head of the Federal Reserve bank in St. Louis had basically the same message today — despite the market unease, there's no plan for government intervention. Bob Moon has more.
There are lots of bogeymen in the subprime crisis — lenders, brokers, investors, even homeowners. And here's another one: credit rating agencies. Kim Clark of U.S. News and World Report explains their role.
Some in Congress and the mortgage industry want the government to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy up bigger loans. So far, no deal. Stacey Vanek-Smith reports on how that's affecting potential homebuyers in some of the country's most expensive housing markets.
That's not as good as it sounds. Most hedge funds require a 45-day notice before investors can withdraw money, which makes today the deadline to pull out before quarter's end. And markets are waiting to see if inverstors have had enough. Jill Barshay reports.
Nasdaq is launching a new market with about 500 companies listed. But before you rush out to make your first trades, Amy Scott has some caveats to report.
