Countrywide Financial Corp.’s share price jumped Tuesday on renewed speculation of a buyout of the Calabasas-based company, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The stock climbed $2.77, or 7.2%, to $41.28 after rising as high as $42.19.

“We don’t know where the rumors originated,” said Chris Jacobson, senior option strategist at Susquehanna Financial Group in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. “But several sources are attributing the strength of the stock to the rumors.”

Renewed talk in Congress about government aid to homeowners facing foreclosure also contributed to the gain, Jacobson said.

Countrywide declined to comment on its stock’s climb.

The mortgage business has been roiled this year by sluggish housing markets and rising defaults, especially in the sub-prime business, which makes higher-cost loans to borrowers with flawed credit, heavy debt loads or limited incomes. At Countrywide, the third-largest sub-prime lender last year, the sector’s woes were blamed for a 37% decline in first-quarter profit.

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