Government bars Fannie-Freddie from reducing principal

WASHINGTON A key federal regulator said Tuesday he would not allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to lower the amount some underwater homeowners owe on their mortgages despite new financial incentives from the Obama administration.

Detailed analysis has determined that principal reductions would cost taxpayers money and would not clearly improve the ability of homeowners to avoid foreclosure, said Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The agency oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing finance giants that were seized by the government in 2008 as they teetered on the brink of failure.

NTSB to disassemble Boeing 787 engine

NORTH CHARLESTON The National Transportation Safety Board says investigators will dismantle the engine from a Boeing 787 that failed during a taxi test last weekend.

The NTSB said Tuesday that as a result of the Saturday failure, debris fell on the runway and ignited a brush fire that temporarily closed Charleston International Airport. There were no injuries.

The engine was made by General Electric.

The agency announced an NTSB aircraft engine expert and a metallurgist from its materials lab will travel to a General Electric plant in Cincinnati. There, they will take apart and examine the engine that caused the problem.

The Boeing plant that manufactures the 787 opened last year.

BB&T deal to acquire bank gets final OK

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. BB&T Corp. on Tuesday said that it received final regulatory approval for its acquisition of BankAtlantic, a deal announced in November to expand BB&T's operations in South Florida.

The board of governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. approved the transaction, along with the North Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banks.

Canadian retailer rebuffs Lowe’s buyout

TORONTO The Quebec provincial government said Tuesday a potential hostile takeover of Canada's largest home improvement chain by U.S. rival Lowe's is not in the province's or Canada's interest after Rona Inc. announced it rejected a $1.76 billion Canadian (US$1.75 billion) offer from Lowe's.

Lowe's said it's still interested in buying the Montreal area company but Quebec finance minister Raymond Bachand said it may intervene to block any further attempt to buy it. Bachand released a statement that said it was “a transaction that serves neither the interests of Quebecers nor those of Canadians.”

From wire reports