Free Republic

Over-liquefied markets came flying back this week. For the week, the Dow and S&P500 gained about 2%. The Utilities were unchanged, while the Morgan Stanley Consumer index added 2%. Not surprisingly, economically sensitive issues and sectors continue to outperform. For the week, the Morgan Stanley Cyclical index jumped 5%, increasing y-t-d gains to 36.5%. The Transports added 3% (up 26.0% y-t-d). This week saw the S&P Homebuilding index added 4% (up 82% y-t-d), and the S&P Steel index surged 10% (up 34% y-t-d). The broader market performed well. The small cap Russell 2000 jumped 4% (up 38% y-t-d) and...

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. mortgage finance regulator has pushed back to October the release date of its investigation of accounting irregularities at Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE - News), an official said on Wednesday. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight was due to make public at the end of September the results of its inquiry into an accounting scandal at Freddie Mac, a spokeswoman said. The report will now be out in either early or mid-October, she said. "It's not a hold-up. It's just in doing a thorough examination, one winds up working on very complex transactions, and...