Bank of America to buy Countrywide

Jan. 11 - Bank of America's plan to buy battered home lender Countrywide Financial could prevent the credit crisis from getting worse. The elimination of the possibility that Countrywide, America's largest independent home loan company, could go bankrupt and flood an already stressed market with more loans, "takes out a major point of uncertainty in the industry", one analyst told Reuters.

Conway Gittens reports from New York. REUTERS VIDEO