Fortune, Jan. 14, 2016–Gandel, Stephen
Goldman Sachs on Thursday said it reached an agreement in principal to resolve a long running government investigation into its sales of residential mortgage bonds in the run up to the financial crisis. The total settlement is just over $5 billion, and will include $1.8 billion in consumer mortgage relief.
Wall Street Journal, Jan. 14, 2016–Leubsdorf, Ben; Hilsenrath, Jon
Investors show growing doubt that the Federal Reserve will successfully spur inflation back up to its desired level-a change in expectations that could slow the pace of interest-rate increases by the central bank.
New York Times, Jan. 13, 2016–Story, Louise
Concerned about illicit money flowing into luxury real estate, the Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would begin identifying and tracking secret buyers of high-end properties.
CNBC, Jan. 13, 2016–Olick, Diana
A sharp drop in mortgage activity over the holidays was clearly temporary. Mortgage application volume increased 21.3 percent last week versus the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Bloomberg, Jan. 13, 2016–Smialek, Jeanna
The U.S. economy expanded across most of the country in the past six weeks as the job market showed strength that’s failing to stoke broad wage pressures, a Federal Reserve survey showed.
Wall Street Journal, Jan. 13, 2016–Timiraos, Nick
The U.S. budget deficit ended last year at its lowest mark since 2007, the sixth straight annual decline, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
National Mortgage News, Jan. 13, 2016–Finkelstein, Brad
Social media offers a unique opportunity to make personal connections online, but mortgage lenders should tread lightly when using this channel as a lead source for new borrower prospects.
Bloomberg, Jan. 13, 2016–Chandra, Sho; Stilwell, Victoria
Policy makers need to heed the message from global commodity and stock markets that “risks are substantially tilted to the downside,” former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said Wednesday.
Wall Street Journal, Jan. 13, 2016–Tracy, Ryan; Rexrode, Christina; Glazer, Emily
Forget too-big-to-fail. The operative question for the country’s largest financial firms is increasingly whether the government has made it too expensive to be big.
Wall Street Journal, Jan. 13, 2016–Brown, Eliot; Carlton, Jim; Futterman, Matthew
A handful of California cities are closing the public checkbook to professional sports teams looking for glitzy new stadiums, in a move that could signal a shift in public attitudes toward such deals.
