Bush’s subprime mortgage plan helps many, but not all
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration unveiled a plan Thursday that it hopes will calm jittery markets and ease a nationwide housing slowdown by helping 1.2 million Americans with adjustable-rate mortgages avoid foreclosure by refinancing or modifying their loans… The plan’s underlying premise is that preventing foreclosures is preventive medicine for the economy.

Stocks rally again on mortgage plan
NEW YORK – Wall Street rallied once again Thursday as investors bet that companies hurt by the housing crisis will benefit from a government plan to help financially stretched homeowners and from another interest rate cut.

Stock futures down, all eyes on November payrolls
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Stock index futures fell before the start of Wall Street trading on Friday, with the focus squarely on the November non-farm payrolls numbers due for release at 0830 EST.

House prices seen falling 30 pct
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Housing markets from Punta Gorda, Florida, to Stockton, California, will crash and suffer price drops of more than 30 percent before the housing crisis is over, a report from Moody’s Economy.com said on Thursday.

Ex-UnitedHealth CEO McGuire to forfeit over $400 million
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The former chief executive of UnitedHealth Group Inc will forfeit more than $400 million in stock options and other compensation and pay a $7 million fine to settle an investigation into the health insurer’s options practices.
It doesn’t happen nearly often enough.