Top 10 News Items for the Week (07/14-07/18): GSE's Fannie and Freddie, Crude Down, Wells Fargo, Short Busting, More...

July 18, 2008 11:58 AM EDT

StreetInsider.com's Top 10 News Items for the Week of July 14-18:

1. Over the weekend, the U.S. Treasury department announced an aggressive plan to back GSEs Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE). The Treasury said it would boosts the GSEs line of credit and may purchase equity, among other things.

2. Crude fell back to $130 per barrel after three straight sessions of big losses.

3. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) provided a trigger for the recovery in financials this week after reporting better than expected results and boosting their dividend Wednesday morning. Wells Fargo reported Q2 EPS of $0.53, versus the consensus of $0.50. Revenues came in at $11.46 billion, versus the consensus of $10.65 billion. The Board of Directors increased the Company's third quarter common stock dividend 10% to $0.34.

4. The SEC cracked down on short selling in Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) and primary dealers like Citigroup (NYSE: C), Lehman Brothers Holdings (NYSE: LEH), Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) and others.

5. Tthe FDIC took over IndyMac Bank (NYSE: IMB) after a run on the bank. Images of IndyMac customers waiting in long lines to withdrawal money made investors in other financial stocks nervous early in the week.

6. Thursday morning, JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) was the second large money center bank to report better-than-expected results , helping financial extend gains. JPMorgan reported Q2 earnings of $0.54 per share, 10 cents above the consensus of $0.44.

7. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) fell after reporting a rare earnings miss Thursday evening. Google reported Q2 EPS of $4.63, 11 cents lower than the analyst estimate of $4.74. Revenues for the quarter were $3.9 billion, versus the consensus of $3.87 billion.

8. Citigroup (NYSE: C) reported a smaller-than-expected loss Friday morning. The company reported a Q2 loss of $0.49 per share from continuing operations, better than the consensus of a $0.66 loss. Revenues came in at $18.65 billion, versus the consensus of $17.55 billion.

9. On Wednesday, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE: CLF) announced an agreement to acquire Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE: ANR) in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $10 billion.

10. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) fell after slightly missing earnings views and guidance Thursday evening. The company reported Q4 EPS of $0.46, 1 cent lower than the analyst estimate of $0.47. Revenues were higher than the Street view.

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• JPMorgan
• Citi
• Merrill Lynch
• Lehman Brothers
• Dividend
• StreetInsider.com Top 10 News Items for the Week
• Crude Oil
• FDIC

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