Friday News Update: Health Care, National News and Stock Market
Monday News Update: Health Care, International Women's Day, AIG Sale to MetLife

In today’s news update we will hear from AIG, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Toyota and updates on the job market.

AIG Plans to Sell Remaining Transatlantic Stake

American International Group Inc. plans to sell its remaining 13.8% stake in casualty reinsurer Transatlantic Holdings Inc. held by its American Home Assurance Co. subsidiary.

The 9.19 million shares AIG wants to sell would be worth about $494 million based on Translantic’s closing share price on Thursday.

Transatlantic shares were down 3.7% in recent trade at $51.77, while AIG rose 4.3% to $27.87 amid a broad market gain.

Rep. Frank questions safety of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac investments

An influential voice on Capitol Hill has unexpectedly called into question the safety of investing in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, raising the specter that investors who have lent money to the two firms or bought their mortgage-backed securities could one day suffer losses.

The comments by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, come despite the assumption of many investors that investments in the two mortgage finance giants are risk-free. Until now, federal officials — who took over Fannie and Freddie two years ago to save them from collapse — have signaled to the market that lending the companies money is just about as safe as lending to the U.S. government itself.

Toyota incentives rouse would-be buyers

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Toyota’s new incentive plan appears to have piqued the interest of buyers looking to snag a good deal, reports showed Thursday, even as the automaker’s recall woes linger.

Edmunds.com and kbb.com, Web site of Kelly Blue Book, both reported significant increases in traffic among users expressing serious interest in Toyota vehicles since the automaker announced a new incentive plan on Tuesday.

Jobs report shows unemployment unchanged

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — As severe winter storms crippled East Coast cities, the U.S. economy shed thousands of jobs in February, according to a government report released Friday. But the unemployment rate remained unchanged.

The Labor Department said the economy lost 36,000 jobs in the month, fewer than the 68,000 jobs economists were expecting, according to a survey conducted by Briefing.com.

Friday News Update: Health Care, National News and Stock Market
Monday News Update: Health Care, International Women's Day, AIG Sale to MetLife