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Stocks tumbled on Friday, wrapping up their worst week since a global sell-off in February amid fears that trouble at two Bear Stearns hedge funds may signal worse problems lie ahead for credit markets.

Bear Stearns Cos., trying to prevent the collapse of two of its hedge funds, may take over about $3.2 billion of the funds' loans to prevent creditors from seizing more assets, Bloomberg reported on its Web site on Friday.

Stocks rebounded on Thursday after brokerage upgrades sent the semiconductor sector to a 13-month high and fresh data pointed to a growing economy.

Stocks were little changed on Monday as lingering worries about the subprime mortgage market offset optimism about corporate takeovers.

Lehman Brothers's lagging stock price offers the chance to buy into a rising power as it seeks to join the company of larger investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, Barron's reported in its June 18 edition.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. are learning that it's a tough time to be in the U.S. mortgage business. Both banks suffered from rising home buyer defaults in the latest quarter.

Investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. Inc., one of the nation's largest mortgage bond underwriters, said on Thursday quarterly earnings fell by a third as trouble in the mortgage market hurt bond trading revenue and it wrote down assets at a stock trading venture.

Aramark, a food service provider, on Tuesday accepted a management buyout from Joseph Neubauer, its chairman and CEO, in conjunction with a private equity consortium.

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed may pause in its 22-month campaign of raising borrowing costs, lifting shares of interest-rate sensitive companies such as banks and utilities.

While financial markets may not react dramatically to the Group of Seven's charge to China to let its yuan currency rise, the events of the weekend will likely further erode faith in the U.S. dollar.

China Construction Bank, one of the country's largest state banks, denied on Monday a newspaper report it is in early talks with Bear Stearns that could lead to its taking a minority stake in the Wall Street securities firm.

China Construction Bank Corp., one of the country's largest state banks, denied a newspaper report on Monday that it is in early talks with Bear Stearns Cos. that could lead to it taking a minority stake in the Wall Street investment bank.