PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Aug 21
Aug 21 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
* Investors largely shrugged off the Federal Reserve's attempt to restore order to the credit markets and bought up the safest government securities, triggering the biggest drop in yields on short-term Treasury bills in nearly 19 years.
* Countrywide Financial Corp's CFC.N stock slipped 7.6 percent even as the big mortgage lender sought to reassure depositors that their funds were safe at the company's Countrywide Bank savings bank unit.
* Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N), citing "an unprecedented set of market circumstances," plans to shut down its struggling GreenPoint mortgage unit -- keeping only pieces of a business valued at $6.3 billion just three years ago.
* The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil-fraud charges against investment adviser Sentinel Management Group Inc, a development that could rewrite the history of last week's market turmoil.
* Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co promised that in a worst-case scenario it would invest $100 million in KKR Financial Holdings (KFN.N), a real-estate company 12 percent owned by the private-equity firm.
* The potential for the global credit crunch to crimp economic growth in the euro zone and the increasing likelihood that the Federal Reserve will cut its interest rate have many economists predicting the European Central Bank (ECB) will keep interest rates steady next month, and possibly longer.
* Hurricane Dean strengthened into a monstrous Category 5 storm Monday night as its outer bands of wind and rain slammed the coasts of Mexico and Belize. Thousands of tourists fled the beaches of the Mayan Riviera as it roared toward the ancient ruins and modern oil installations of the Yucatan Peninsula.
* Senior U.S. military commanders in Iraq are increasingly divided over whether Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his weak coalition are capable of making the necessary compromises that might help end the fighting in the country.
* Lowe's Cos Inc (LOW.N) credited superior customer service and efficient operations for second-quarter results that outperformed those of larger rival Home Depot Inc (HD.N) by several measures as its second-quarter profit rose 9 percent despite housing slump.
* WCI Communities Inc WCI.N Monday unveiled a new board that indicates a truce with billionaire activist Carl Icahn and gives the luxury condo developer more time to weather the worst housing downturn in decades.
