More bank stress tests coming. Here’s why U.S. banks are pushing back on how tests work.

The big four banks combined to write $175.4 billion in new mortgages during the three months ended Sept. 30. That is 24% lower than what these lenders wrote a year earlier. BofA’s drop noted below is a big contributor to the overall drop. Wells Fargo originated $89 billion in new mortgages, down 12% from the [...]

Usually I don’t repeat foreclosure numbers, for a variety of reasons. But the latest numbers were so bad I had to say something: the number of notices of default jumps 25.9% from the second quarter. An estimated 71,275 notices of default were filed against California properties during the three months that ended Sept. 30, with [...]

Five-time Jeopardy winner Rich Cordray will be nominated by President Barack Obama to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He is the former Ohio Attorney General (he lost his bid for re-election last November), and currently the assistant director for enforcement at the bureau. And to round things out, he was a onetime law clerk [...]

The driving force behind Mother’s Day was Anna Jarvis, who organized observances in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia on May 10, 1908. As the annual celebration became popular around the country in 1914 Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Mortgage security traders hardly know which way to turn as rates drop and [...]

Below are two notable items on this slow news day, as well as a primer on how mortgage banks lock loans and hedge risk. (1) The bankruptcy trustee for Thornburg Mortgage sued Goldman, Barclays and other big banks for a combined $2.2 billion, blaming them for its bankruptcy. Meanwhile, former Thornburg CEO Larry Goldstone is [...]

When it comes to powerful women, how does the FDIC’s Sheila Bair—our nation’s top bank regulator—stack up against Lady Gaga or Katie Couric? When it comes to powerful banks, how do they rank for first quarter production? The big four banks originated a combined $186 billion in home loans, down 33% from $281 billion home [...]

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, mortgage industry jobs are down 50% in the past five years. The industry hit a peak in early 2006 at 505,000 but is now at 248,000. Granted, many who shouldn’t have been in the business have left and there was excess manpower 5 years ago, but the stat [...]

Mortgage rates are a bit worse today after a report showed China was a net seller of U.S. Treasury securities in November—this causes nervousness in all bonds including mortgage bonds, which sold this morning, pushing rates higher. We also got a flat read on manufacturing data from New York today, and here’s the market preview [...]

The US Treasury will be selling its remaining shares in Citigroup, not only exiting ownership but making a profit on its investment. It found buyers for 2.4 billion shares at $4.35 a share for $10.5 billion of profit. (Can they please manage my stocks?) At this point the biggest private stakes left on the Treasury’s [...]