Wells Fargo, Wachovia Reduce Home-Mortgage Lending Amid `Credit Crunch'

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. mortgage lenders including Wells
Fargo & Co. and Wachovia Corp. are raising rates and imposing
stricter standards on some of their most creditworthy borrowers as
slumping demand in the mortgage bond market chokes off funding.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, the second-biggest U.S. home
lender, stopped issuing Alt-A loans through brokers, made to
borrowers with near-prime credit ratings or prime borrowers who
don't document income. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia,
the fourth-largest U.S. bank, also stopped making Alt-A loans
through brokers and smaller lenders and curtailed some adjustable
rate mortgages, spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown said.


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U.S. Stock Futures Gain as Treasuries Erase Losses; Merrill Shares Advance

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures gained
after Treasury bonds erased losses following a decline that
earlier pushed yields on 10-year notes to the highest in more
than five years.

Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's biggest brokerage, and
Wachovia Corp., the fourth-biggest U.S. bank, advanced in
trading in Europe.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

U.S. Stock-Index Futures Advance; Yahoo, Ceridian, Dell Climb in Europe

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures increased on
speculation the economy is rebounding after bottoming out in the
first quarter.

Shares of Yahoo! Inc., owner of the second-most-popular
Internet search engine, climbed in Europe after a stock upgrade
by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Ceridian Corp. gained as the provider of
human resource and payroll services agreed to be acquired for
$5.3 billion. Shares of Wachovia Corp., the fourth-biggest U.S.
bank, may move after the company agreed to buy A.G. Edwards Inc.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News