Washington Mutual Inc.

U.S. thrifts lost $5.4 billion in the second quarter and set aside a record amount to cover losses from bad mortgages and other loans. Data from the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision released yesterday show federally insured savings and loan institutions...

Ronald Hermance, head of Hudson City Bancorp, has never made a subprime loan. His bank doesn't keep risky mortgage securities on the books, and is headed toward another record year of profits. Nonetheless, Hermance's Paramus, N.J.-based savings bank...

It hasn't been easy being a dividend investor of late. As the economy stumbles, companies are shrinking their payouts at a pace not seen in nearly two decades. Your stocks could be next, particularly if they're financial institutions. But there are some...

The mess in the U.S. financial system is making me nostalgic for the dot-com collapse of 2000-2002. That, too, was a cataclysmic bursting of an insane market bubble. But, as we are painfully learning, it's one thing for the economy to lose Pets.com...

Wall Street shot higher yesterday, gaining back the previous session's sharp losses and then some, after a drop in oil prices and a rise in consumer confidence gave investors some hope for a letup in Americans' financial woes. "The thinking is that oil...

Wall Street abruptly ended an earnings-driven rally and closed sharply lower yesterday after a steeper-than-expected decline in existing-home sales and worries about the financial sector chilled the market's recent optimism. The major indexes fell...

Now that troubled lender Washington Mutual Inc. has survived three straight quarters of crippling losses, investors are trying to decide whether its badly bruised shares represent a cheap gamble on a shrinking bank or another security primed to bleed...

After losing out on several Lincoln Park condominiums to higher bidders in 1993, Matt and Janet Fosket started looking in the western suburbs for an affordable place that would be close to his job in Northlake and along a commuter train line so she...

Wall Street's smart rebound Friday, driven by a surge in the dollar and another plunge in oil prices, eased some of investors' worries about losses at mortgage finance company Fannie Mae. But at the end of a volatile week, questions remain about...

Washington Mutual Inc. reported a $3.3 billion second-quarter loss as tumbling home prices left a record number of borrowers unable to keep up with mortgage payments. The loss of $6.58 a share compared with net income of $830 million, or 92 cents a share,...

Wall Street extended its slump into yet another week yesterday as investors worried that even a safety net set up for mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won't head off further troubles in the financial markets. Investors' unease about the...

The situation is increasingly bleak for Wachovia Corp. and the bank's mortgage portfolio will continue to lose value, "seriously jeopardizing" the company's ability to generate earnings, an influential analyst warned today. The latest note of caution...