AFP - Hillary Clinton called on Wall Street Wednesday to help end the foreclosure crisis in the housing market, in one of her most important economic speeches so far in the US presidential campaign. Read more…

AP - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton called on Wall Street to accept some responsibility for the home foreclosure crisis, saying Wednesday the financial sector gave mortgages to people who were unlikely to be able to make repayments. Read more…

AP - President Bush is not doing enough to help the vast number of homeowners at risk of foreclosure and to fix the mortgage crisis that is roiling financial markets, Democratic White House candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards said Wednesday. Read more…

Bloomberg - Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street encouraged reckless mortgage lending that led to a national foreclosure crisis, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told an audience at New York's Nasdaq stock exchange. Read more…

FT.com - Shares of specialist bond insurer MBIA (NYSE:MBI) plunged by nearly 16 per cent on Wednesday after ratings agency Moody's suggested losses on mortgage securities could put the company's triple-A status at risk. Read more…

Reuters - Democratic presidential candidates seized on the U.S. mortgage crisis on Wednesday, with Hillary Clinton and John Edwards offering competing plans to help millions of people facing steep rate hikes or loss of their homes. Read more…

AFP - The administration of President George W. Bush was set to unveil its plan Thursday for averting a wave of home foreclosures, with some reports saying it may include a freeze on some interest rates. Read more…

Reuters - New York state prosecutors have sent subpoenas to Wall Street firms seeking information related to the packaging and selling of debt tied to high-risk mortgages, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Read more…

Reuters - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said Wall Street was partly to blame for the subprime mortgage mess and urged the investment community to support her proposals aimed at preventing home loan foreclosures. Read more…

FT.com - So far Europe has been lucky. The financial turmoil unleashed by the US subprime mortgage crisis has claimed some scalps among European Union financial institutions, but at a local level only. Read more…

AP - Congressional aides say the Bush administration has hammered out an agreement with industry to freeze interest rates for certain subprime mortgages for five years in an effort to combat a soaring tide of foreclosures. Read more…

AP - Homeowners started losing hold of their homes years before spiking foreclosures and the housing slump slammed the economy. Read more…

Reuters - President George W. Bush is expected to outline on Thursday a plan to freeze mortgage rates for five years for many U.S. homeowners facing sharp increases in their monthly payments, industry sources said on Wednesday. Read more…

Bloomberg - Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton plans to go to the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York to say that Wall Street helped create a national foreclosure crisis by encouraging reckless mortgage lending. Read more…

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush will talk about housing issues on Thursday afternoon, a senior administration official said on Wednesday, as the White House tries to finalize a plan to help homeowners facing sharply rising interest rates on their mortgages. Read more…

BusinessWeek Online - In the world of real estate, foreclosure has long been the ultimate sanction--a kind of capital punishment for the borrower gone bad. But some foreclosures are now facing legal challenges that threaten to delay or even derail the proceedings. That could spell more trouble for both lenders and investors in the giant market for mortgage-backed securities. Read more…

FT.com - Rescue aid given by the British authorities to stricken mortgage lender Northern Rock was formally approved on Wednesday by the European Commission under its state aid rules. Read more…

FT.com - Mizuho, Japan's second-largest bank, is injecting Y150bn ($1.36bn) into Mizuho Securities to shore up its capital base after the division said it expected to suffer a Y92bn loss this year due to US subprime-related investments. Read more…

Reuters - Britain won swift clearance from European Union regulators on Wednesday for rescue aid to support stricken mortgage lender Northern Rock , a casualty of the global credit crunch. Read more…

AFP - EU regulators on Wednesday approved Britain's bailout of troubled mortgage lender Northern Rock after finding that a package of loans and deposit gurantees were in line with European emergency aid rules. Read more…

FT.com - House prices fell for a third consecutive month in November, according to a survey from the UK's biggest mortgage lender that will heighten fears this autumn's market slowdown could lead to sustained falls in property prices. Read more…

FT.com - Mizuho Financial, Japan's second-largest bank, is injecting Y150bn into Mizuho Securities to shore up its capital base after the securities group said it expected to suffer a Y92bn loss on US subprime-related investments. Read more…

Reuters - New York state prosecutors have sent subpoenas to Wall Street firms seeking information related to the packaging and selling of debt tied to high-risk mortgages, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Read more…

FT.com - Mortgage lenders were warned by the City watchdog on Tuesday to batten down the hatches and brace for "very difficult" market conditions next year as at least 1.4m homeowners face a sharp jump in loan repayments. Read more…

Reuters - Federal regulators and lenders are homing in on five years as the length of an interest-rate freeze on subprime mortgages, Bloomberg reported, citing a source familiar with the negotiations. Read more…