About 4,500 jobs have been lost at government-sponsored multinational companies so far this year.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae already faced scrutiny by lawmakers who question whether the two government-sponsored companies are adequately regulated.

The rally in bonds came as a fight brewed yesterday between the Treasury Department and two government-sponsored companies that help finance home mortgages.

They also had help from a government-sponsored company that bought bad loans totaling 1 trillion yen ($8.2 billion) in face value in the period.

The government-sponsored company, which is a buyer and guarantor of home mortgages, said it expected to report its 2005 results in late May.

It is a government-sponsored but investor-owned company that insures mortgages against default, enabling them to be sold to investors as bonds called mortgage-backed securities.

This marks the first strategic alliance between a Hollywood film production entity and a Chinese government-sponsored company.

(He even ran a government-sponsored travelling company, serving mainly the peasants in outlying areas.)

They are government-sponsored companies that bundle home mortgages they buy from banks and sell bonds backed by clusters of these mortgages to investors.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, its corporate cousin, are government-sponsored companies that play a crucial role in the home mortgage market.