Next week, the GSEs will release 2Q results and all eyes will be on the line item that reveals the net gain or loss from their derivatives, the instruments the two use to hedge their MBS positions.
When rates plunge at the end of a given quarter – as they did in June – it usually translates into large hedging losses for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But this time around, there seems to be less chatter about the topic – and a reduced level of anxiety. Next week, both government-sponsored enterprises will release second-quarter results and all eyes will be on the line item that reveals the net gain or loss from their derivatives, the instruments the two use to hedge their MBS positions. In the first quarter of this year, Freddie posted...
Lenders originating agency mortgages are seeing plenty of demand in the secondary market, according to panelists at the California Mortgage Bankers Association’s Western Secondary Market Conference this week in San Francisco. “Capital is searching for a home,” said Rob Branthover, a managing director at Mortgage Industry Advisory Corp. He noted that many investors are focusing on agency mortgages. Mike Duncan, a senior hedge manager at Compass Analytics, said...
The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision that had cleared Freddie Mac of charges that it misled investors about its involvement in the subprime mortgage market. The lawsuit was filed in 2008 by the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, which claimed Freddie made false public financial statements that hid its exposure to risky loans. The fund alleged that it lost more than $27.2 million as the value of Freddie stock plummeted. OPERS said...
Look for the Federal Reserve to repeat last year’s performance and raise interest rates one quarter of one percent in December, according to some supporters and critics of the U.S. central bank, enabling the Fed to say it did, in fact, lift interest rates this year. During its meeting in Washington, DC, this week, the Fed once again, as expected, opted to hold rates unchanged and did not tip its hand about a future move, although some market participants came away with the impression an increase in September is a little more likely than had been the case after the central bank’s last meeting. The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee last raised...