Around the markets: Fannie/Freddie Death Watch ending?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

A few notes from around the markets Wednesday:

-- Not dead yet: Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to rebound as Wall Street pulled back from the Death Watch. The companies both were able to borrow in the money markets today ($2 billion for Fannie, $1 billion for Freddie), which reminded equity investors that the credit markets will have the final say on whether the mortgage giants will have to go hat in hand to Uncle Sam. So far, the answer is they don’t.

Fannie’s shares jumped 86 cents, or 15.3%, to $6.48, and are up 47% from last week’s low of $4.40; Freddie’s stock shot up 78 cents, or nearly 20%, to $4.75, and is up 69% from last week’s low of $2.81. And yes, this sure looks like some short sellers are rushing to close out their bets.

-- Talking his book? T. Boone Pickens Jr., who is championing natural gas and wind power as the paths to escape our reliance on foreign oil, says he expects the price of crude to retake its early-July peak level of about $145 a barrel by year’s end. ‘I think you’ll be back up there at some point before the year is out,’ Pickens said in a TV interview from the Democratic National Convention in Denver, according to Bloomberg News.

Near-term crude futures rose $1.88 to $118.15 a barrel today on concerns about the path that Tropical Storm Gustav may take in the Gulf of Mexico.

-- No pay hike, but presumably comped coffee: Starbucks Corp. CEO Howard Schultz and other top managers won’t get pay increases in the fiscal year beginning in October as the chain tries to get back on a growth track, the Wall Street Journal reported. Lower-level workers still will be eligible for raises. The Journal picked up the tip from starbucksgossip.com, which posted a copy of an internal company memo.

Starbucks shares, up 8 cents to $15.59 today, are down 24% year to date after falling 42% last year.