WASHINGTON — Charles Haldeman Jr., a former mutual fund executive, will take the helm of Freddie Mac next month, the mortgage finance company said Tuesday.

Three weeks ago, Haldeman, 60, stepped down as chairman of mutual fund company Putnam Investments, where he had previously served as chief executive. He replaces John Koskinen, who has been serving as Freddie Mac's interim CEO since the March resignation of David Moffett.

The move comes at a critical time for Freddie Mac, which is struggling under the weight of mounting loan defaults.

Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae play a vital role in the mortgage market by purchasing loans from lenders and selling them to investors. Together, the companies own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about $5.4 trillion. That's about half of all U.S home mortgages.

Fearing the companies would go under, the government seized control of Fannie and Freddie last September. Since then, Freddie has tapped nearly $51 billion in government aid to cope with mounting loan defaults, while Fannie has taken about $34 billion.

SEATTLE — Apple seems to have missed the memo — you know, the one about the recession.Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple coasted past Wall Street's expectations for its fiscal third quarter on a wave of laptop and iPhone sales. It did it during a quarter in which total computer shipments fell worldwide. And it did it without sacrificing profit.Investors sent Apple's stock up $6.82, or 4.5 percent, to $158.33 in after-hours trading Tuesday. Shares had dipped $1.40 to end regular trading at $151.51."Times are tough. Apple continues to post pretty strong numbers," said Shaw Wu, an analyst for Kaufman Bros. "It's pretty incredible. It truly is."Apple, the closest thing the tech industry has to a luxury brand, said earnings for the three months that ended June 27 jumped 15 percent to $1.23 billion, or $1.35 per share. Apple's profit was $1.07 billion, or $1.19 per share, in the same period last year.The company, which recently welcomed CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs back from medical leave, said sales increased 12 percent to $8.34 billion from $7.46 billion in the year-ago quarter.

SAN FRANCISCO — Carol Bartz has already shown off her cost-cutting skills in her first six months as Yahoo's chief executive.Now, she will try to prove she isn't making a bad bet by spending more money while the Internet company's advertising sales are still sagging.The risky strategy caused investors to fret more about what might happen in Yahoo's third quarter than to celebrate the 8 percent increase in second-quarter profit reported late Tuesday. It marked Yahoo's first quarterly earnings improvement since the start of 2008, but Yahoo shares nevertheless slid 45 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $16.30 in Tuesday's extended trading.The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company wouldn't have boosted its second-quarter profit if not for layoffs and other cost cutting that pared Yahoo's operating expenses by nearly $150 million, or 15 percent, from last year.But Bartz raised questions about whether the earnings momentum will continue by vowing to spend at least $75 million more promoting Yahoo's brand, hiring more engineers and improving some services in the third quarter.