4 Financial Stock Stories for Mid-Week

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY): Closing price $15.21

The real estate investment trust is trying to rebound, following its worst quarterly performance in over 7 years, as it attempts to avert the Federal Reserve’s interference in credit markets. Chief Executive Wellington Denahan is acquiring the commercial mortgage investor Crexus Investment Corp., has increased the firm’s use of borrowed funds after Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said in September that he would keep buying home-loan bonds to reduce home loan costs, and also bought back  shares. The analyst Merrill Ross at Wunderlich Securities says that “Annaly is not taking the Fed head on; they are making an end run around.”