More troubles for financials:

Freddie Mac, the U.S. mortgage-finance company hobbled by record foreclosures, will slash its dividend at least 80 percent after posting a quarterly loss that was three times wider than analysts' estimates.

Freddie dropped 11 percent in early New York Stock Exchange composite trading after reporting a second-quarter net loss of $821 million, or $1.63 a share, compared with the 54 cents a share average estimate of nine analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The common-share dividend will be reduced to 5 cents or less from 25 cents, the second cut in nine months, McLean, Virginia-based Freddie said today in a statement.