Reuters - The Nasdaq shot up 3 percent on Monday
as stocks extended gains as JPMorgan Chase & Co raised
its offer to buy Bear Stearns Cos five-fold and data
showed signs of a possible bottoming in the troubled housing
sector.

»read more from "Nasdaq up 3 percent; market extends gains (Reuters)"

AP - After falling for six straight months, sales of existing homes posted an unexpected increase in February which may have reflected more aggressive price cutting by sellers in some parts of the country, a real estate trade group reported.

»read more from "Existing home sales rise in February (AP)"

Reuters - Regional banks will be allowed to
temporarily boost holdings of mortgage-backed securities by up
to about $150 billion, regulators said on Monday, announcing
another bid to bring stability to troubled mortgage markets.

»read more from "Regulators let Home Loan Banks lift MBS holdings (Reuters)"

Reuters - Sales of existing homes rose in
February for the first time since July as prices posted a
record drop from their year-ago level, but economists said it
was unlikely the market had reached a bottom.

»read more from "Existing home sales post surprise rise (Reuters)"

Reuters - The U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission accused Canada’s Biovail Corp and
four current or former officers, including former Chief
Executive Eugene Melnyk, of engaging in a number of fraudulent
accounting schemes, the agency said on Monday.

»read more from "SEC charges Biovail with fraud (Reuters)"

Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co on Monday raised
its all-stock offer for Bear Stearns Cos to about $10 a share,
roughly five times its original bid, in a move to appease
disgruntled shareholders.

»read more from "JPMorgan raises Bear Stearns bid to $10/share (Reuters)"