The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining the near-collapse of two Bear Stearns hedge funds that made bad bets on the mortgage market, The Associated Press reported Wednesday citing a person familiar with the matter.

H&R Block Inc. swung to a fourth-quarter loss Thursday as the continuing struggles of its mortgage lending arm offset higher revenue in its tax and financial services divisions, The Associated Press reported.

Merrill Lynch & Co. is selling roughly $850 million of assets from two Bear Stearns Cos. hedge funds that have been battered by turmoil in the subprime mortgage market, a person familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) will redeem the principal amounts indicated for the following securities issue on the redemption dates indicated below at a redemption price equal to 100 percent of the principal amount redeemed, plus accrued interest thereon to the dates of redemption:

Fannie Mae, the mortgage finance giant trying to fix its accounting after overstating profit by $6.3 billion, plans to release its 2006 annual report next quarter and update its financial statements completely by February, The Washington Post reported.

Freddie Mac, the No. 2 U.S. mortgage finance company, on Thursday reported an unexpected net loss of $211 million for the first quarter, citing a souring outlook for mortgage credit risk that widened credit spreads, reported Reuters.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the largest U.S. mortgage lender, announced on Tuesday that the company quarterly profit went up by 27 percent, which was much more than expected, and it was the result of bond underwriting and stock trading.

Regulators and lawmakers seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach on mortgage reform as they confront the fallout from several years of lenders making too many home loans to people with inadequate credit, The Associated Press reported Friday.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) will redeem the principal amounts indicated for the following securities issues on the redemption dates indicated below at a redemption price equal to 100 percent of the principal amount redeemed, plus accrued interest thereon to the date of redemption:

WASHINGTON, June 4 /PRNewswire/ --

The following is being issued by Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM)

Almost 180,000 people who took out two year fixed rate mortgages during the second quarter of 2005 are facing an increased monthly mortgage bill of an average of £185 per month, as the fixed rate period of their loans come to an end and base rate rises hike the standard variable rate of many mainstream mortgage lenders.

PMI Mortgage Insurance Company Limited (PMI Europe), the AA rated European mortgage insurance and credit enhancement subsidiary of The PMI Group, Inc. (NYSE: PMI), announced the appointment of Beatriz Calvo as Country Manager for Spain today, as it prepares to enter this key European market.