Business News Headline - 22 August, 2008

Reuters - A major credit rating agency cut the preferred share rating on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac amid mounting concern about the ability of the two largest U.S. home funding providers to access capital, in the latest blow before a widely expected government bailout.

Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday said the stronger dollar and lower oil prices, along with the weak economy, should curb inflation, in a hint that interest rates would stay on hold, though he warned the inflation outlook is "highly uncertain."

Reuters - U.S. stocks rallied on Friday to score their best daily gain in two weeks as hopes that Lehman Brothers may attract a major investor lifted financial stocks while a plunge in oil prices soothed worries about inflation and consumer spending.

Congress' approval last month of a bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was meant to reassure anxious investors. It hasn't worked out that way, however. Investors' confidence in the companies is dwindling and there's still much uncertainty over how a bailout will work.

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Foreign investors are moving their money out of Russia in the aftermath of the armed conflict between the economic giant and Georgia. Alex Cohen speaks with John Dimsdale about what the investment pullout could mean for the global economy.

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