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AP Business NewsBrief at 11:38 p.m. EDT(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Government may soon back troubled mortgage giantsWASHINGTON (AP) _ The government is expected to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as soon as this weekend in a monumental move designed to protect the mortgage market from the failure of the two companies, which together hold or guarantee half of the nation's mortgage debt, a person briefed on the matter said Friday night. Some of the details of the intervention, which could cost taxpayers billions, were not yet available, but are expected to include the departure of Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron, according to the source, who asked not to be named because the plan was yet to be announced. Silver State Bank in Nevada is shutWASHINGTON (AP) _ Regulators on Friday shut down Silver State Bank, saying the Nevada bank failed because of losses on soured loans, mainly in commercial real estate and land development. It was the 11th failure this year of a federally insured bank. Boeing, machinists talks fail; Union to strikeSEATTLE (AP) _ Despite a 48-hour contract extension, negotiations between Boeing Co. and Machinists union officials failed Friday and the union said a strike was set to begin at 12:01 a.m. PDT Saturday. When the talks broke off, the union sent out a message to members saying: "The strike is on!" As unemployment spikes, companies weigh optionsNEW YORK (AP) _ U.S. companies have cut more than 550,000 jobs so far in 2008 as they try to preserve their profits in a slumping economy, but analysts say such downsizing must be done carefully for corporations to have any long-term benefits. A continuum of companies have announced plans to cut their payrolls since the economy began to weaken last year, and many chief executives are still taking a hard look at their overhead to determine who is expendable and who isn't. That means layoffs will remain a possibility across a number of sectors, from financial services to airlines and manufacturing, for quite some time. Stocks mostly rise as investors snap up financialsNEW YORK (AP) _ Wall Street wrestled with intensifying economic worries Friday, extending sharp losses after a disheartening jobs report and then grudgingly engaging in some mild bargain hunting that gave the market some modest gains. The major indexes ended the week with big declines, a sign that investors, who not long ago expected the economy to improve, are now growing increasingly discouraged. Stocks initially fell after the Labor Department reported that payrolls shrank more than predicted last month and that the unemployment rate reached a five-year high. But stocks that had been pounded lower, including a huge drop on Thursday, were suddenly more attractive to investors willing to make some bets. Unemployment climbs to 5-year high of 6.1 percentWASHINGTON (AP) _ The nation's unemployment rate bolted above the psychologically important 6 percent level last month for the first time in five years _ and it's likely to go even higher in the months ahead, possibly throwing the economy into a tailspin as Americans pick a new president. A blizzard of pink slips propelled the jobless rate from 5.7 percent in July to 6.1 percent in August, the Labor Department reported Friday. Such a sharp increase is usually a strong recession warning, and it dashed investors' hopes for a late-year recovery. Oil prices drop as jobs data add to demand worriesNEW YORK (AP) _ Oil prices sank to a five-month low Friday as a jump in the U.S. unemployment rate signaled to traders that Americans might keep paring back their energy use to save money. The Labor Department said the economy lost jobs in August for the eighth consecutive month _ and at a faster-than-expected pace. The unemployment rate spiked to 6.1 percent from 5.7 percent in July, above the 5.8 percent rate that analysts forecast. Home loan troubles break records againWASHINGTON (AP) _ The source of trouble in the mortgage market has shifted from subprime loans made to borrowers with bad credit to homeowners who had solid credit but took out exotic loans with ballooning monthly payments. The Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday that more than 4 million American homeowners with a mortgage _ a record 9 percent _ were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June. Google reigns as world's most powerful 10-year-oldMOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) _ When Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google Inc. on Sept. 7, 1998, they had little more than their ingenuity, four computers and an investor's $100,000 bet on their belief that an Internet search engine could change the world. It sounded preposterous 10 years ago, but look now: Google draws upon a gargantuan computer network, nearly 20,000 employees and a $150 billion market value to redefine media, marketing and technology. GE may face civil action on securities violationsFAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) _ General Electric Co. said Friday it has been informed that the Securities and Exchange Commission may recommend fines and other action for possible violations of securities law related to accounting changes the company made. GE said in a regulatory filing that the notification, called a "Wells notice," is related to issues dating to several years ago concerning GE's accounting for certain derivatives used for hedging interest rate risk and other transactions. Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |