Worries that the government may nationalize struggling mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac created yet another source of problems for beleaguered U.S. banks and brokers.

Buffett said he expressed interest in buying parts of the giant insurer AIG when regulators and financial industry executives were holding emergency talks on problems that included the fate of Lehman Brothers.

July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Moody's Corp. ousted the head of its structured finance unit and said employees violated internal rules in assigning ratings to last year's worst performing securities.

Lehman Brothers finance chief Erin Callan wants to "end the chatter" about the beleagured investment bank's financial health. But the murmuring won't stop till investors get a fuller view of Lehman's exposure to risky assets.

A deal to sell the bankrupt Haven Healthcare nursing-home chain has abruptly collapsed, leaving state officials scrambling to put together a backup plan to turn over the chain to two or three investment firms that would hire new operators to run the homes