US launches foreclosure relief programme
Friday, 6 March 2009
WASHINGTON, Mar 5 (AFP): The United States yesterday launched a foreclosure relief programme to help distressed homeowners, while markets found their own relief in reports that China will announce a new stimulus plan.
Wall Street snapped a five-day losing streak, with investors encouraged by President Barack Obama's administration launch of a 75-billion-dollar rescue plan to stem rising home foreclosures. European markets also staged strong rebounds after days of losses.
The US Treasury Department said between seven and nine million homeowners could be helped through the programme launched Wednesday, through either home loan modifications or mortgage refinancings.
"It is imperative that we continue to move with speed to help make housing more affordable and help arrest the damaging spiral in our housing markets," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said.
The government's release of a detailed blueprint for stabilizing the housing sector came amid news of a further deterioration in the US jobs market that suggested a bleak reading from the Labor Department on Friday. The US private sector shed a greater-than-expected 697,000 jobs in February as employers slashed payrolls to cope with the shrinking economy.
Wall Street snapped a five-day losing streak, with investors encouraged by President Barack Obama's administration launch of a 75-billion-dollar rescue plan to stem rising home foreclosures. European markets also staged strong rebounds after days of losses.
The US Treasury Department said between seven and nine million homeowners could be helped through the programme launched Wednesday, through either home loan modifications or mortgage refinancings.
"It is imperative that we continue to move with speed to help make housing more affordable and help arrest the damaging spiral in our housing markets," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said.
The government's release of a detailed blueprint for stabilizing the housing sector came amid news of a further deterioration in the US jobs market that suggested a bleak reading from the Labor Department on Friday. The US private sector shed a greater-than-expected 697,000 jobs in February as employers slashed payrolls to cope with the shrinking economy.