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The article discusses a report from the U.S. Senate on the U.S. mortgage market in the years leading up to the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. Investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was criticized for selling mortgage-backed securities while believing those securities would decline in value. In 2004 financial-services firm Washington Mutual ignored it's risk officer's warning that house prices were set to fall.

The article discusses the role of financial firm Deutsche Bank AG in the collapse of the U.S. mortgage-bond market. At the same time Deutsche Bank was creating and selling mortgage securities to one group of clients, it was advising other clients to invest in a manner that would be profitable should those securities fall in value.

The article examines the relationship between the investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the insurance company American International Group (AIG) during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. Goldman Sachs has submitted documents to a U.S. independent commission investigating the crisis detailing how it established prices for mortgage-backed securities it insured with AIG, a transaction which brought the latter firm to the brink of collapse.

The article focuses on the business failure of the bank Washington Mutual Inc. and its financial relationship with the financial services company Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Documents released by the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Investigations indicate that Goldman marketed many of the mortgage-backed securities created out of subprime mortgages issued by Washington Mutual.

This article reports that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating other failed mortgage investment deals arranged by large Wall Street firms that also misled investors similarly to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The investigations are looking at investment products designed by these firms that allowed key clients to bet that there would be a sharp housing downturn.

This article reports that the U.S. Federal Reserve board has released information about the troubled mortgage assets which it purchased through its bailouts of Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc. The information shows subprime residential mortgages on properties all over the U.S. and commercial loans to properties in such places as Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Panama City, Florida. The properties are now worth less than the amounts owed on the loans.

The article reports that housing prices in the U.S. are under pressure from low-priced sales of homes by holders of subprime-mortgage bonds. Such sales often occur at prices below what banks seek for their own foreclosed properties. Professor Anthony Sanders of George Mason University observes that the large inventories of homes being sold by bondholders will push prices down further. Atlanta, Georgia has been particularly hard hit.

The article focuses on Norma CDO I Ltd., a consolidated debt obligation mortgage backed investment tool that was created by Merrill Lynch & Co. A discussion of the role Norma and other mortgage backed investment tools similar to it played in the subprime mortgage crisis of 2006 and 2007 which was seen in the United States, is presented.

The article reports on plans under discussion by Citigroup Inc. and other big banks to create a large fund giving financial backing to shaky mortgage securities and other investments hit by the global credit crisis. The talks are being brokered by the U.S. Treasury Department, specifically undersecretary for domestic finance Robert Steel.

The article reports that the hedge fund run by Caliber Global Investment Ltd. will cease operations after they posted losses in excess of 50 percent, primarily stemming from their investments in the U.S. subprime mortgage-backed investments. Their investments were predominantly based on loans made in 2005. This makes investors nervous, as it was previously thought that only subprime mortgages made in 2006, when the industry had lowered its standards the most, were at-risk investments.

The article reports on the difficulty experienced by hedge funds in reviving the mortgage-securities market in the U.S. It notes that such investors are getting involved in mortgage securities in which they purchase assets that others avoid in the hopes that prices will increase. It stresses that placing value on mortgage securities remains a challenge as house prices drop and mortgage defaults increase. It adds that banks continue to get rid of more securities leading to cheaper assets.

The article reports on the planned creation of a super-size investment fund in the U.S. Bankers and other financial institutions have expressed interest in committing more than $60 billion in credit lines to create a planned superfund that will be used to support the ailing mortgage-securities market. The three U.S. banks organizing the fund, Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Citigroup Inc., would come close to their goal of raising a fund of $80 billion to $100 billion if the expressions of interest turn into firm commitments.

The article reports that U.S. real-estate fund Luminent Mortgage Capital Inc. is suing HSBC Holdings PLC over valuation of fund's bonds. Luminent claims that the New York-based mortgage-trading office of HSBC placed an improperly low valuation on nine subprime-mortgage bonds, which the fund's subsidiaries had put up as collateral for loans. The Luminent-HSBC dispute highlights a problem that many banks and investors faced this summer of 2007 as troubles in subprime mortgages triggered a broader credit crisis.

The article reports that the credit troubles faced by British mortgage lender Northern Rock highlights the impact of the global credit crunch on the British housing market. It states that the decision of investors to shy away from mortgage-backed securities has been caused by the credit problems that started with subprime mortgages in the U.S.

The article discusses the appearance of several Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives before a U.S. Senate panel. Several senators including John McCain and Carl Levin accused Goldman of unsavory practices with respect to mortgage-backed securities. Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein defended his firm's actions.

The article reports that Citigroup Inc. has agreed to buy most of the assets of Wachovia Corp. for almost $2 billion dollars. Citigroup will assume ownership of Wachovia's $320 billion portfolio of mortgage-related assets, although the U.S. government has agreed to absorb any losses that exceed $42 billion.

The article discusses the efforts of New York Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo to rescue financially troubled bond insurers. A weakening housing market in the U.S. has caused mortgage-backed securities to plummet in value, thus putting the insurers at risk. Dinallo is seen as acting aggressively in prodding banks to address the problem.