Product valuations are not the most appealing to agency MBS investors right now – not enough to keep them from buying, perhaps, but enough to dry up whatever enthusiasm they might have, according to a new structured finance report from analysts at Wells Fargo Securities. “The core theme in the financial markets right now seems to be ‘reluctant buying,’” the report said. Most of the spread products at this point are trading at multiyear tights. And the bloom may be off the rose when it comes to the so-called Trump trade. “Some of the optimism around fiscal policy post-election that drove risk-premiums tighter is...
The House of Representatives late this week passed H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act, which would undo a number of changes to the secondary market and to the regulatory landscape that were ushered in by the Dodd-Frank Act. As previously reported, among these are the elimination of the Dodd-Frank risk-retention requirements for ABS other than residential mortgages. Another provision would enable the president to remove the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency before the end of the director’s appointed term, with or without cause. It also would make...
When it comes to price performance, it’s been an ugly couple of years for mortgage stocks, particularly for struggling lender/servicers such as Ocwen Financial, PHH Corp., and Walter Investment Management Corp. In a nutshell, it’s been impossible for many firms to go public or issue additional shares, though there have been exceptions, such as the MBS-investing real estate investment trusts and Impac Holdings. But now there’s talk that some larger nonbanks, and even some smaller players, might be able to issue corporate bonds. According to investment banking advisors, one trend that favors such a development is...
Agency issuance of single-family MBS posted a solid, if unspectacular, gain from April to May, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae issued a combined $98.52 billion of single-family MBS last month, up 4.1 percent from their April volume. Monthly production in 2017 still hasn’t caught up to the $134.21 billion issued in January but, on a year-to-date basis, it’s running about 5.3 percent ahead of the pace set in the first five months of last year. The story in 2017 has been...[Includes two data tables]
The House of Representatives this week began voting on H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act, the Republican effort to replace significant portions of the Dodd-Frank Act. The legislation, introduced earlier this year by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, passed out of committee in early May on a party-line basis. The final vote was expected to be completed late this week. The House Rules Committee voted...
The mortgage industry has come to the conclusion that meaningful housing-finance reform is so elusive that any legislation being introduced is a long shot, even in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which seems to be more involved in the topic than any other panel on Capitol Hill. Over the past month, rumors have circulated that some senators on the committee, including Bob Corker, R-TN, have been discussing with fellow members what an outline for housing-finance reform might look like, but with nothing committed to paper. A spokeswoman for the committee told...
Franklin American Mortgage has relaxed and removed many of its overlays across the company’s portfolio of products, including revising the minimum FICO credit score down by 20 points on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. The company said it wants to more closely align its policies with current agency requirements for loans sold to the government-sponsored enterprises and insured by the FHA and VA. Franklin revised...
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