Reuters - A General Electric Co. unit and private equity firm Blackstone Group said on Thursday that they would acquire mortgage and fleet management services company PHH Corp. for $1.8 billion.

AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages remained at the lowest level since mid-December as investors waited for more concrete information on the direction of the economy.

Reuters - Ohio's attorney general joined officials from other states, barring troubled subprime mortgage lender New Century Financial Corp. from operating in the state.

Reuters - Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton on Thursday called for incentives for U.S. lenders to identify troubled mortgages, offer "a foreclosure timeout" and possibly revise repayment terms amid the widening subprime mortgage crisis.

FT.com - Wall Street struggled to make gains on Thursday, weighed down by cautious comments from Alan Greenspan on the US subprime mortgage market.

Reuters - General Electric Co. and private equity firm Blackstone Group said on Thursday that they would acquire mortgage and fleet management services company PHH Corp. for $1.8 billion.

FT.com - Mortgage lenders sell a ­disproportionate share of high-cost, or subprime, home loans to blacks and other minorities in big cities across the US, according to two new reports.

AP - The parent company of subprime lender Ameriquest Mortgage Co. said Thursday it was slashing its work force and consolidating operations in its retail call centers and wholesale loan production offices. It is the second wave of cuts in less than a year for Orange-based ACC Capital Holdings Corp., one of the nation's largest subprime lenders.

AFP - The worst may not be over for the US mortgage sector, whose shakiness has rippled across financial markets worldwide, many economists say.