By Al Yoon 1 hour, 44 minutes ago NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ailing mortgage finance company Freddie Mac easily sold $2 billion of short-term debt on Monday, reassuring investors that it and rival Fannie Mae can fund operations without a government takeover.Fannie Mae (FNM.N) shares rose 9 percent, and Freddie Mac (FRE.N) stock gained more than 22 percent in early afternoon trading in New York. Broader markets tumbled.
An analyst said the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), which own or guarantee nearly half of the mortgages in the United States, were unlikely to be nationalized, which also soothed market jitters.
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