Fannie Mae asks dear old Uncle Sam for $19 billion

Fannie Mae (FNM) hit investors today with a double whammy.

Not only did the largest U.S. mortgage lender report a whopping loss of $23.5 billion, or $4.09 per share, a slight improvement over a year earlier, but its regulator requested $19 billion in additional help from the federal government before June 30. First quarter results -- if you can call them that -- included $20.9 billion in credit-related expenses, securities impairments of $5.7 billion, and fair value losses of $1.5 billion, as persistent deterioration in housing, mortgage, financial and credit markets hurt the company.