The offering followed close on the heels of three K-deals announced the previous week.

The improved financial performance of the GSEs largely reflects the impact of CECL. The provisions for losses that would have been made in 2Q20 under the old accounting standard were already accounted for by CECL, which was adopted in December. (Includes data chart.)

Fannie Mae saw bigger gains in both refinance and purchase mortgages during the first half of 2020. (Includes two data charts.)

Urban Institute researchers estimate the 7% fee the GSEs charge to purchase loans that have gone into forbearance after closing squeezes 255,000 creditworthy borrowers out of the market.

Democratic lawmakers said the re-proposed capital rule could adversely affect access to credit for borrowers of color and lower income individuals. Also, they said quickly recapitalizing the GSEs in the midst of a public health crisis might interfere with the nation’s economic recovery.

Pointing to unemployment rates that reached 14.7% in April, and a 7.3% decline in consumer expenditures in March, FHFA is simply acknowledging the obvious: The U.S. economy has entered a recession of unprecedented depth and unknown duration.

When panic first set in over the economic impact of COVID-19, investors sold off historically large volumes of MBS and Treasuries. As a result, liquidity and pricing efficiency both took a beating. It was the Fed’s gluttonous appetite for these securities that brought markets off the cliff.

K-deals totaling more than $2 billion hit market.

The Supreme Court is likely to give the president the power to replace the FHFA director for any reason, much like it did in the Seila Law v. CFPB case, according to Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg.

In its S-1 filing, Quicken (not surprisingly) said it’s powerless to modify the rules that govern its relationship with the GSEs.