Fannie performance stats. It’s not pretty.

Today’s must-read links… -New Government-Assisted Refi Program Coming (MarketWatch) -CHART: Areas With Most-Underwater Homes (NewYorkTimes) -The Eurozone Crisis Explained in Brief (RobertSinn) -Kids With Huge Jobs At Treasury (BusinessWeek) -UK Shifting from ARMs to 30yr Fixed? (FT) -Is Teaching A Profession (Weakonomics)

Here we are after S&P’s U.S. downgrade (here’s my take) and stocks are down again and the bond market is rallying. Markets set rates, not rating agencies, and it would seem that money is flowing into bullion and into the bond market, as many expected would happen. Perhaps the United States really is still viewed [...]

After parts 1 and 2 on the rate impact of S&P’s downgrade, here are a few new comments before Asian markets open. We’ll continue to discuss rate impacts as this situation plays out. – The first is not an additional comment but a repeat of what I said yesterday:  S&P is 100% correct that the [...]

Abnormal Returns masterfully curates the financial media maze daily, and today’s S&P downgrade linkfest is no exception. It’s a broad topic and these links cover the market outlook as well as the political chatter. More on the consumer rate angles coming here on The Basis Point shortly…

Rates were down slightly last week but there’s reason for caution coming into this week: there’s no deal yet on U.S. budget proposals and until there’s a budget agreement, the U.S. debt ceiling won’t be raised. The U.S. will reach its borrowing limit August 2, but it takes time to process legislation and money flows [...]

We’re in the final countdown for a debt ceiling deal. Beltway pressures are high as politicians passionately belt out their tax hike budget cut lyrics to excitable constituents. So this installment of bTunes is The Final Countdown from cheese metal gods Europe. Because if we can’t agree on America’s budget war, we can agree that [...]

I finally saw HBO’s Too Big To Fail, a movie based on Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book of the same name. It was about Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s enactment of TARP during the darkest days of the financial crisis, and begins with Treasury taking over Fannie and Freddie on Sunday, September 7, 2008. That day, my [...]

All real estate is local so blogging must be as well. That’s what real estate blogger Teresa Boardman wrote on InmanNews (link below). But don’t rush to build your fancy self-hosted blog just yet. Unless you’re a realtor who’s built a blog audience over years, your best play is to use a Facebook page. You [...]

Mortgage bonds are trading higher today (FNMA 30yr 4% coupon +28 basis points) which helps make up for yesterday’s 43 basis point loss. The two day net loss on bond prices means a slightly upward rate trend because rates rise when bond prices decrease. Yesterday the Conference Board’s March consumer confidence showed a decline, confirming [...]