Wall St surges on hopes of easing credit crunch
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks jumped on Thursday, capping a tumultuous week, on optimism that giving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a bigger role in the mortgage market will ease a credit crunch that claimed Bear Stearns as its biggest victim.

Reports suggest economy weakening more
NEW YORK – A rise in jobless claims and a drop in a key forecasting gauge provided the latest evidence that the U.S. economy is faltering and may be slipping into recession.

Investment Firms Tap Fed for Billions
Big Wall Street investment companies are taking advantage of the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented offer to secure emergency loans, the central bank reported Thursday. Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley said Wednesday they had begun to test the new lending mechanism. On Wednesday alone, lending reached $28.8 billion, according to the Fed report.

Leery lenders demand more from borrowers
WASHINGTON – Just when consumers and the U.S. economy need banks to lend more freely, the mortgage industry is making it harder to borrow — even for those with good credit.

SEC probing options activity in Bear Stearns: report
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the events leading up to the collapse of Bear Stearns , specifically a surge in options contracts betting that the investment bank’s share price would fall sharply, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Giving Better Than Getting
HAPPY GIVERS: Researchers found people who made gifts to others or to charities reported they were happier than those who didn’t share, according to a report in Friday’s issue of the journal Science. MONEY’S DIFFERENCE: How people spent money was more important than how much money they had, noted the researchers from University of British Columbia and Harvard University. SMALL STEPS: “This work suggests that even making small alterations in how we spend money on a daily basis can make a difference in happiness,” lead researcher Elizabeth W. Dunn said.