Analysts speculate on the apparent choice of Mike Calhoun as FHFA director even though the White House has yet to formally nominate him.

Fannie and Freddie are likely to have raked in more than $5 billion combined in adverse market fees on refinances before FHFA Acting Director Sandra Thompson decided to shut the program.

With delinquency numbers falling, the GSEs will relax excess capital requirements, paving the way for PMIs to resume dividend payouts.

The Fed and commercial banks purchased a combined $1 trillion in agency MBS over the past 12 months, more than 145% of the net supply. (Includes data chart.)

With overnight funding in the agency repo market hovering around 15 basis points and term repo rates a shade above the one-month LIBOR, yields for agency mREITs could edge upward, KBW analysts predict.