Today Reuter Lisa Von Ahn News Mail 28July

Welcome to the Reuters Before the Bell news mail.

"The federal government giveth, and the federal government taketh away" is Wall Street's philosophical reaction to the housing rescue bill and news of two bank failures.

Stock futures are pointing sideways as better-than-expected results from Verizon and Kraft Foods offset the financial sector's woes and higher oil prices.

News surfaced on Friday that federal regulators took over First National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank NA of California and sold them to Mutual of Omaha Bank.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg is reporting that Merrill Lynch says Lehman may post a quarterly loss and take more write-downs.

Oil is up after rebel attacks on pipelines in Nigeria. The dollar is down against an index of major currencies. Longer-term U.S. Treasuries are higher.

The Dallas and Chicago Feds are releasing manufacturing reports, and Fed Gov. Frederic Mishkin is giving a luncheon speech.

Make way for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. The powerful private equity firm plans to brave the turbulent stock markets and go public this year.

Until tomorrow,

Lisa Von Ahn

News Mail Editor