RPT-Wall St Wk Ahead: Fannie, Bernanke and data to rule stocks

(Repeating column initially transmitted late Friday)

By Ellis Mnyandu

NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - The bears have Wall Street cornered and they just won't let go.

This week is almost sure to be a rocky ride for the U.S. stock market as investors fret about the stability of Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the government-sponsored home finance companies that own or guarantee about one in every two mortgages in this country.

Barring any news, say over the weekend or early this week, that quashes fears of capital constraints at Fannie and Freddie, analysts and money managers said U.S. stocks were set to fall further into the bear market's arms.

Wall Street will focus on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week, when he is scheduled to appear twice on Capitol Hill to give his semiannual testimony on monetary policy. He is set to testify on Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee, and on Wednesday, before the House Financial Services Committee.

Investors will latch on to anything Bernanke says about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as his take on the U.S. economy, inflation and interest rates.

"The bottom line is that we're in the middle of a financial tsunami. This is a storm the likes of which this country hasn't seen," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey. "The market right now needs to see results. It no longer gives anyone the benefit of the doubt."

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which own or guarantee almost $5 trillion in mortgages and package them into bonds, are confronted by mounting losses from loan delinquencies and foreclosures. Investors fear that if they are hampered from doing business, the paralysis will only make the housing crisis get worse.