U.S. Stocks Advance; Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Rise (Bloomberg.com)
Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rebounded from a four- month low on speculation that losses from mortgage defaults may be limited as the market for asset-backed securities picks up.

Countrywide Breaks Into The Piggy Bank (Forbes)
In a disturbing move, the mortgage lender draws down an $11.5B credit line.

UPDATE: Subprime Mortgage Woes Infect Commercial Paper Market (Nasdaq)
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- Subprime mortgage problems have spread across so much of the credit market that they've begun to cause disruptions in the commercial paper market, which provides a lot of the short-term fuel that keeps corporate America running.

Credit Fears Chill Countrywide Financial (Forbes)
America's largest home loan lender is worried that the liquidity crunch will threaten its financial stability.

Countrywide taps $11.5 bln credit, shares fall 11 pct (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Countrywide Financial Corp. , the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said on Thursday it drew down an entire $11.5 billion bank credit line as a global credit crisis limits its access to short-term cash.

Why a US problem is hurting Australia (Daily Telegraph)
AUSTRALIAN home loan repayments could rise because families 16,000km away in America have reneged on their mortgage payments.

Big Changes and Big Loan for Lender (New York Times)
Countrywide Financial said it had tapped $11.5 billion in emergency financing from 40 of the world?s largest banks amid difficulties in selling its home loans.

A rush to pull out cash (Los Angeles Times)
Worried about the stability of mortgage giant Countrywide Financial, depositors crowd branches. Anxious customers jammed the phone lines and website of Countrywide Bank and crowded its branch offices to pull out their savings because of concerns about the financial problems of the mortgage lender that owns the bank.

Barclays Sees Market Drops as Global Slowdown Signal (Update2) (Bloomberg.com)
Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Stock market investors are starting to price in a global economic slowdown as a financial crisis triggered by U.S. subprime mortgage losses deepens, according to Barclays Capital.

Agriculture and Rural America lost on credit provisions (AG Weekly)
Last night (July 26), U.S. agriculture and rural America lost. The House of Representatives approved by voice vote an amendment to strip provisions that would have strongly supported Congress’ renewable fuels goals and provided new growth opportunities for agriculture and rural communities.