Dodd, Frank urge hike on loan limits

The heads of the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees were joined Friday by a Republican congressman…

The heads of the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees were joined Friday by a Republican congressman in urging that loan limits be raised for Fannie Mae of Washington and Freddie Mac of McLean, Va.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., called for raising the portfolio cap by 5%, and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif., said a House reform bill “underestimated” loan limits, and they called on the Senate to raise them to ease the subprime-loan crisis.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored secondary-market mortgage enterprises.

ING unveils annuity with 7% annual growth
ING USA Annuity and Life Insurance Co. is introducing a variable annuity today that ensures that the withdrawal base will grow at least 7% annually during the first 10 years of the annuity contract.
The 7% annual increase during the deferral phase of the contract is one of the highest in the industry, executives from The Des Moines, Iowa-based company contended.

Citadel buys portfolio from Sentinel
Citadel Investment Group LLC of Chicago, one of the nation’s biggest hedge funds, has bought one of the asset portfolios of Sentinel Management Group Inc., the Northbrook, Ill., cash management firm that froze customer accounts last week, Crain’s Chicago Business reported.

Anxious investors wary of markets
Investor confidence slipped in the second quarter, according to the monthly Investors’ Confidence Indicators survey.
The indicator fell to 132.8, from a record level of 133.3 in the first quarter — an indication that investors remain jittery, according to the Alexandria, Va.-based Center for Investors’ Confidence.

Fed cuts discount rate in emergency meeting
The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee cut the discount rate by 0.5 percentage points to 5.75% in an emergency meeting Friday morning, driving market indexes higher.
InvestmentNews’ lead editorial (see Page 10) went to press before the meeting and thus doesn’t reflect the Fed’s decision.