Rocket is set to acquire Mr. Cooper, the second-largest servicer of loans in agency MBS. Rocket, which has a significantly high recapture rate, plans to boost retention efforts on Mr. Cooper’s portfolio.

GSE watchers believe that, to appropriately compensate the taxpayer for their government guarantee, Fannie and Freddie would have to pay a commitment fee as high as $46 billion a year.

Housing finance aficionados like the prospect of a GSE exit from conservatorship that includes the retention of the Treasury’s PSPA, especially if done in conjunction with a sovereign wealth fund.

Fed reduces redemption cap for Treasury securities, allows agency MBS runoff to proceed; Annaly to issue securitization with HELOCs; non-agency MBS term financing transaction from PIMCO.

Three former CEOs of the GSEs this week debated the impact of federal conservatorship, what steps must be taken to safely end the oversight and what the GSEs should look like afterwards.

Bank holding companies sharply reduced their trading-account holdings of MBS and ABS in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase and Citi recorded significant declines. (Includes two data tables.)

FICC proposes volatility event charge; securitization-as-a-service offering from Financely; Morningstar acquires DealX.

If the GSEs are released from conservatorship, some participants in the agency MBS market insist the to-be-announced market, uniform MBS and Fannie/Freddie CRT activity should remain untouched.

Fourth-quarter declines in agency MBS portfolios at Annaly and AGNC were key to an overall downward drift in REIT MBS holdings. (Includes two data tables.)

Demand for MBS/ABS remains high, helped by interest rate trends. But President Trump is a wildcard, prompting some caution among investors.