The president is getting more assertive in using the GSEs to achieve political and policy objectives, according to Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at TD Cowen Washington Research Group.

Balance-sheet normalization at the Fed leads to spread widening, but with a significant lag and focused on premium coupons.

The flow of refis into agency MBS nearly halved during the third quarter. Purchase-mortgage volume was up 12.5% on a sequential basis; but over the first nine months, it was up only 1.3% year over year. (Includes two data tables.)