Mubarak resigns. Here are good links, including Al Jazeera live TV stream.
February 2011
Treasury handed off their new White Paper on the future of home finance to Congress today. Worth reading for people who follow closely, but it’s a political document delivered to politicians, who now have some new surface level talking points about chopping down big government. As for market reality, the most important thing for winding
Like most economic stats, inflation seems simple: it’s a measure of how consumer or business prices are rising in an economy. But how inflation is measured then interpreted by markets is less simple. Most inflation reports in the press—often referred to as ‘headline inflation’—are total consumer or business inflation numbers. But lots of effort goes
Big Ben fixates on The Basis Point’s new logo and hopes he’s doing the right thing. Logo v2 kicks off our 2nd year of translating Ben and the rest for those who don’t study markets daily. We’ve fine-tuned the logo so it’s easier to tell what it is: the mathematical symbol for a basis point.
Today and every Thursday, Freddie Mac releases results of a survey showing what rates are on single family home loans up to $417,000. And the overwhelming majority of mainstream media reports on the topic today talk about how rates have risen along with Treasuries. WRONG. Mortgage rates referenced in the Freddie Mac survey aren’t tied
Freddie Mac’s chief operating officer, Bruce Witherell, quit yesterday. This comes a day after Wells Fargo’s CFO resigned/retired “for personal reasons,” and before tomorrow’s official release of the Treasury’s proposals to overhaul Fannie & Freddie. The Fannie & Freddie plans have been well leaked to the press at this point, although anything that is decided
It’s been a tough 2 weeks for rates, and 30yr fixed loans up to $417k are about 5.125% this morning—rates for condos and for larger loan amounts are higher. Mortgage bonds have been in an ongoing selloff on improving GDP, higher U.S. business inflation, and higher consumer inflation in emerging markets like China, India, and
Job well done regulators: A new survey by MortgageMatch shows that people think the mortgage process has gotten more confusing. Heads up to consumers: it’s going to get worse in April when the entire industry’s compensation model is overhauled and new disclosures are rolled out. The former directly impacts the ability of loan agents to
Job well done regulators: A new survey by MortgageMatch shows that people think the mortgage process has gotten more confusing. Heads up to consumers: it’s going to get worse in April when the entire industry’s compensation model is overhauled and new disclosures are rolled out. The former directly impacts the ability of loan agents to
Investors Ramp Up Mortgage Plans Expecting Fannie, Freddie, FHA Market Share To Drop From 95% to 50%
Some confusion may end on Friday, when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner present Congress with three options for reducing the government’s role in home finance. Pundits suggest that the US will have an 8-10 year period to reduce Fannie & Freddie portfolios. Look for a reduction in the maximum loan amount to $625,500, a gradual increase
Investors Ramp Up Mortgage Plans Expecting Fannie, Freddie, FHA Market Share To Drop From 95% to 50%
Some confusion may end on Friday, when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner present Congress with three options for reducing the government’s role in home finance. Pundits suggest that the US will have an 8-10 year period to reduce Fannie & Freddie portfolios. Look for a reduction in the maximum loan amount to $625,500, a gradual increase
Scott Garrett, the chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on capital markets and government-sponsored enterprises said that the U.S. government needs to end its role in the mortgage market as it decides the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “Let me stress and be very clear where I stand: I am firmly committed
Scott Garrett, the chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on capital markets and government-sponsored enterprises said that the U.S. government needs to end its role in the mortgage market as it decides the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “Let me stress and be very clear where I stand: I am firmly committed
Eugene Linden of Minyanville makes good use of a Matrix analogy to describe how the Fed and big banks have created the illusion of a healthy stock market. Saw story via ZeroHedge, and in honor of this solid post, here is a Matrix stock market graph. A well-trodden meme of TV and cinema has been
Eugene Linden of Minyanville makes good use of a Matrix analogy to describe how the Fed and big banks have created the illusion of a healthy stock market. Saw story via ZeroHedge, and in honor of this solid post, here is a Matrix stock market graph. A well-trodden meme of TV and cinema has been
Since Vince Lombardi’s team just won the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl trophy last night, I keep thinking about his famous speech What It Takes To Be Number One, and specifically the line: Winning is not a sometimes thing. It’s an all the time thing. I know he was a fierce competitor and all, but that
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