Fannie Mae (FNM) announced Wednesday it told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it will delist its common and preferred stock. On Tuesday, the company was told that it no longer meets NYSE listing standards of minimum price of its common stock. Shares of FNM have traded below a $1 average price for the past 30 days, triggering NYSE rules for the company to either take action to boost its shares or to delist.

But it wasn't just the exchange's rules and regulations. The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that it is directing both FNM and Freddie Mac (FRE) to delist their shares from the NYSE and any other national exchange.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• American International Group Inc. (AIG) said its Q1 earnings doubled, easily topping analysts' expectations.
• Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) said Q1 revenue grew, but disappointing earnings dragged down shares.
• Chevron Corp. (CVX) had strong Q1 earnings and boosted its dividend, but Gulf spill concerns weighed on shares.
• CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS) Q1 earnings topped consensus estimates but it also said same-store sales slipped.
• Freddie Mac (FRE) said its lost $8 billion in Q1, less than a year ago, and requested further bailout funds.

Do you remember Freddie Mac (FRE)? This is a story for the record books. For years it was difficult to get a handle on Freddie's finances. When the meltdown occurred, Freddie was forced to bring $1.5 trillion onto its balance sheet. In one stroke of the pen this caused Freddie's net worth to plunge $11.7 billion.

With the $1.5 trillion on its books, Freddie has been showing losses. In the recent quarter, Freddie lost $8 billion, or $2.45 per share. That compares with a loss of $10.4 billion or $3.18 per share in the first quarter. This takes into account $1.3 billion in dividends paid to the Treasury Department.

Late Wednesday, Fannie Mae (FNM) confessed that delinquencies on loans in its single-family guarantee business increased to 5.38% in December, marking a steep increase from 2.42% in December 2008. The multifamily delinquency rate arrived at 0.63% for the final month of 2009, compared to 0.30% in December 2008.

Additionally, Fannie Mae reported that its mortgage investment portfolio contracted by 44.8% to $735.2 billion in January

Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank said Friday at a hearing on executive compensation issues: "I believe this committee will be recommending abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their current form and coming up with a whole new system of housing finance."

This represents a turnaround for Representative Frank (D., Mass.), who has been a staunch supporter of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Federal Reserve picked up a $52.1 billion profit last year, a record for the organization. The result is due largely to its 2009 bailout efforts. Of the profit generated, $46.1 billion will be handed over to the Treasury Department -- the largest profit payment made since records began back in 1914. The previous record was $34.6 billion, in 2007. Last year, the Fed turned $31.7 billion over to the Treasury Department.

According to the Associated Press, the profit didn't come from the $700 billion lent to financial institutions -- and then to auto companies like General Motors. Rather, it was the result of earnings from the securities it had in its portfolio last year. Several investment programs were launched last year to help kickstart the U.S. economy and drive down rates on mortgages and consumer debt. Through the programs, the Fed bought $300 billion in government debt, and under another, it's on a trajectory to buy $1.25 trillion in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mortgage securities.

Today was a low volume trading day without much economic fanfare as many market participants were out or were talking about the Christmas holiday rather than the markets. The manufacturing output was reported for the Dallas and Chicago Fed Districts, but this in and of itself is rarely enough to heavily influence the markets. There will be more traders around on Tuesday and Wednesday most likely, but then it is likely to peter out again on Thursday ahead of the New Year's Day holiday this Friday. The markets were mixed throughout the trading day, and the real position for an up-close or down-close was something not known until the very end of the trading day.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,547.30 +27.20 (0.26%)
S&P 500 1,127.78 +1.30 (0.12%)
Nasdaq 2,291.08 +5.39 (0.24%)

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'Tis the season to be greedy! Fannie Mae (FNM) CEO, Michael Williams, and Freddie Mac (FRE) CEO, Charles Halderman, will each receive $6 million in total compensation for 2009!

How would you like to work for a company that will guarantee every single loss you have. The U.S. Treasury said that they would absorb all losses for Fannie and Freddie for the next three years, if necessary.

The markets were very mixed going into the close and which direction the closing bell was going to be was not known until right at the close. Core consumer inflation seems to still be contained, although oil rose sharply today on supply and refining concerns. Even the FOMC decision to keep rates at the near-zero policy and keeping the "extended time" phrase on for extremely low fed funds rates did not hurt the markets today.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,441.12 -10.88 (-0.10%)
S&P 500 1,109.18 +1.25 (0.11%)
Nasdaq 2,206.91 +5.86 (0.27%)

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Despite a cautious report from home builders and despite a low volume day, today marked a clear win for the S&P 5000 and for the DJIA. The S&P broke through 1,100 and the DJIA broke through 11,000. We also had two mergers this morning, and while small they are signs that companies are willing to merge once more.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow 10,090.76 +94.85 (0.95%)
S&P 500 1,097.52 +9.84 (0.90%)
Nasdaq 2,175.83 +19.03 (0.88%)

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Analyst upgrades:

• American Express (NYSE:AXP) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at FBR Capital, as the firm sees limited near-term downside in the stock. The firm raised its target price on the shares to $37 from $25.
  
• RBC Capital upgraded Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) to Outperform from Sector Perform. Target to $44 from $34. UBS upgraded Nestle on expectations the company will begin returning cash to shareholders via buybacks and dividends.
  
• Piper Jaffray raised Dicks Sporting (NYSE:DKS) to Neutral from Underweight following positive channel checks and raised its target on the shares to $28 from $18.
  
• Sohu.com (NASDAQ:SOHU) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell by Pali Capital.
  
• Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was raised to Buy from Hold by Natixis.
  
• Sunpower (NASDAQ:SPWRA) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Macquarie.
• China Automotive (NASDAQ:CAAS) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merriman.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says this year will see the mirror image of last year, when redemptions ended the game for many managers.

One year ago today, a quarter ended that put hundreds of bullish hedge funds out of business. Today, a quarter ends that will put hundreds of bearish hedge funds out of business.

Oh, sure, last year some of the bulls were able to stumble through the fourth quarter, but October was a horror show and they ended up getting huge redemption letters and spending the rest of 2008 selling into the strength of the rally to return capital to investors and lock in losses.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says everyone in the trenches knows we're better off now -- only the academics disagree.

Am I nuts, or am I missing something? One year after the financial system was brought to its knees, we are back in the mid-9000s and we have taken off the table massive bank risk and are well on our way to recovery.

I keep listening to people like Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz say the banking system is worse off now and I say to myself, "That's just stupid and wrong and anti-empirical and actually just silly." Anyone who knows what's really going on has to feel this way. And where was Stiglitz when some of us were running around trying to save things?

If you're wondering why Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) have been bombarded by selling pressure today, look no further than this Wall Street Journal article (subscription required). The newspaper reports that the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is pushing for the government to split up Fannie and Freddie "into several smaller privately held companies that would issue mortgage related securities carrying an explicit government guarantee."

Under the terms of the proposal, Fannie and Freddie's offspring would no longer be permitted to sit on massive mortgage portfolios. Additionally, all mortgage-backed securities created by the duo would be backed by a federal insurance fund, replacing the rather abstract implied government guarantee that's currently in place.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the bizarre rules these days make it worth looking at stocks through a different lens.

How much should we care about low-dollar speculation? How much should we care about the incessant trading in CIT (NYSE: CIT) (Cramer's Take) and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) (Cramer's Take), Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) (Cramer's Take), or Vonage (NYSE: VG) (Cramer's Take) and Sprint (NYSE: S) (Cramer's Take)? Or even Citigroup (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take)?

First, I have to tell you that I worry about it less than I used to. Why? Because when we used to have rules and government officials that were willing to speak the truth about stocks, we wouldn't have these single-digit players out there every day. But without it, how in heck can people not believe that Fannie and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) (Cramer's Take) are the biggest and best bets on a turn in housing?