WASHINGTON (AP) _ Mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are suspending foreclosures for about 16,000 households during the holiday season. The two companies said Thursday that they will halt foreclosure sales between Nov. 26 and Jan. 9, while they evaluate whether borrowers qualify for a new loan modification program...

NEW YORK (AP) _ A restructuring expert overseeing the liquidation of Lehman Brothers will replace Richard Fuld as chief executive on Dec. 31, Lehman lawyer Harvey Miller said Thursday. Chief Restructuring Officer Bryan Marsal of Alvarez & Marsal has been overseeing the wind-down of what was once the nation's fourth-largest...

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Democratic leaders in Congress sidetracked legislation to bail out the auto industry Thursday and demanded the Big Three develop a plan assuring the money would make them economically viable. "Until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money," Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said at a hastily called news conference in...

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Jarred by new jobless alarms, Congress raced to approve legislation Thursday to keep unemployment checks flowing through the December holidays and into the new year for a million or more laid-off Americans whose benefits are running out. The Senate's vote followed Thursday's report that laid-off workers' new claims...

NEW YORK (AP) _ Stocks plunged for a second straight day Thursday, falling to a range not seen in more than five years as financial and energy stocks tumbled while demand for the safety of government debt spiked to historic levels. Stocks saw the most intense selling late in the session after hopes faded that lawmakers would quickly...