Category: Top National News

Bloomberg, May 23, 2016–Scully, Matt
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Deutsche Bank AG inflated the value of securities in its mortgage-bond trading business and masked losses around 2013.

National Mortgage News, May 22, 2016–Sinnock, Bonnie
Ginnie Mae wants go one step further in its monitoring of issuers’ operations. It plans to model how the liquidity of companies that issue its mortgage-backed securities would look under stress, so it can troubleshoot more effectively. Mortgage bankers have been working to help Ginnie address the resource management concern and they are open to the idea of stress tests, said MBA President and CEO David Stevens.

Huffington Post, May 13, 2016–Grim, Ryan; Blumenthal, Paul
Old Washington hands involved say that nothing they’ve seen before in politics has prepared them for the mercenary campaigns the hedge funds are now waging.

Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2016–Light, Joe
Private shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have waged an intense lobbying campaign in an effort to drum up support for releasing the companies from government control and in the process restore some value to their shares.

HousingWire, May 13, 2016–Lane, Ben
Ending a legal quagmire that stretched back to 2011, investors are finally set to receive their money from an $8.5 billion settlement involving Bank of America, mortgages originated by its Countrywide unit, and the Bank of New York Mellon, which acted as the trustee for the mortgage bond investors.

Barron’s May 14, 2016–Stone, Amey
Mortgage real estate investment trusts have enjoyed a stunning three-month run for an obscure, underfollowed corner of finance. They are up 22 percent since mid-February, buoyed by stronger credit markets, a Federal Reserve that seems likely to keep rates lower for longer and a nod from bond king Jeffrey Gundlach of DoubleLine Capital at a recent hedge fund conference.

National Mortgage News, May 13, 2016–Passy, Jacob
A subsidiary of Goldman Sachs was the winner for all four pools in Fannie Mae’s latest nonperforming loan sale.

Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2016–Light, Joe
Hedge funds that have bet hundreds of millions of dollars on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s stock aren’t just leaving the fate of their investment to Wall Street. A group of hedge funds, including Paulson & Co. and Perry Capital LLC, is helping to finance a lobbying campaign to lift government controls on what happens with the mortgage giants’ profits.

National Mortgage News, May 12, 2016–Passy, Jacob
Foreclosures continued to decrease in the first quarter, while delinquencies remained flat from the previous quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Barrons, May 12, 2016–Kahn, Michael 
Unlike the rest of the stock market, mortgage REITs did not recover from the financial crisis bear market. But the sector has rallied nicely since January and this week exceeded the March 2009 low.