Countrywide: Lending stabilizes, foreclosures up

(Reuters) - Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), whose shares have tumbled on concern it might not survive the nation's housing crisis, said on Wednesday it made more loans than expected in the fourth quarter, though foreclosures among loans it services increased.

Shares of Countrywide rose 34 cents, or 6.2 percent, in pre-market trading to $5.81 from Tuesday's composite close, after earlier rising as much as 21 percent to $6.62.

In its monthly operating report, the largest U.S. mortgage lender said it funded $23.4 billion of home loans in December, up 1 percent from the prior month, though down 44 percent from $41.7 billion a year earlier. Average daily mortgage loan applications fell 17 percent from November to $1.54 billion.

"Management is pleased with the progress we have made in positioning the company to navigate the current challenging environment," Chief Operating Officer David Sambol said in a statement.

For the quarter, Countrywide said it funded $68.5 billion of mortgage loans, and $69.2 billion of total loans.

 

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Li Ka-Shing Rushes Into China Where Bond Angels Fear

(Bloomberg) -- The bond market is telling Li Ka-shing, Asia's richest man, he's sitting on a Chinese property bubble that's bigger than the one deflating in the U.S.

Bonds of China's Agile Property Holdings Ltd. yield 7.17 percentage points more than U.S. Treasuries, double the premium in July and 1.79 percentage points more than the debt of Los Angeles-based KB Home, which has the same credit ratings. Agile, a housing developer in the southern province of Guangdong, and Country Garden Holdings Co., China's most-profitable builder, canceled debt sales in November when borrowing costs climbed.

As China's government attempts to cool property prices with limits on lending, developers are in a land grab. Li, who made his fortune in Hong Kong real estate, Chinese billionaire Xu Rongmao, who owns Shimao Property Holdings Ltd., and hundreds of local developers boosted investment 29 percent in the first eight months of 2007, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

 

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U.S. Stocks Gain, Led by Technology, Health Care; Pfizer Rises

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks gained after Hewlett- Packard Co. said it won't be hurt by an economic slowdown and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. told clients to buy drug companies.

Hewlett-Packard, the biggest personal computer maker, gained for the first time in nine days after its technology chief said sales of touch-screen products ``far exceeded'' company expectations. Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. rallied after Goldman analysts said some drugmakers will continue to grow earnings even as the economy slows.

 

Read more at Bloomberg