So far, the big economies don’t have a problem. Lenders think they are good for the money. Almost miraculously…or supernaturally…the USA – the world’s biggest borrower – is able to obtain financing…
February 11th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "fannie and freddie"
Another Very Bad Year for American Housing
The other global downer on the newswires comes from the U.S. housing market. New housing starts fell by 4% in December and index of homebuilder confidence fell too. But by far the more alarming news was that the Federal Housing Administration is increasing mortgage insurance premiums, demanding higher credit scores, and requiring larger down payments from new borrowers.
January 21st, 2010 | Dan Denning | 35 comments | Continued
Banks Could Face Larger Asset Writedowns and Losses than IMF has Modelled
Next time around, though, we reckon the losses – when they come – will be on domestic real estate assets. And with so much exposure to domestic real estate (mortgage loans), the assets could face a world of hurt. But even if bank asset quality doesn’t crash (housing prices don’t crash), an external shock affects Aussie bank liabilities.
October 28th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
Why Do Men and Women Want Money and Power?
At least as practiced by the leading macroeconomists of our time – such as Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner and Larry Summers. It’s just a show-off sport…the idea is to impress the world with some fancy data-heavy formula…win the Nobel Prize and save the world.
September 9th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Bernanke’s Stunning Plan
“This is a very powerful and aggressive move,” said the chief economist at Bank of New York Mellon Corp., speaking with Bloomberg Television. “One of the reasons I’ve been arguing we won’t have a depression is we’ve got a Fed chairman who understands the problem and is going to come with the right diagnosis and the right medicine.”
March 23rd, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
What’s Going to Happen to the Mortgage Twins – Fannie and Freddie
Yesterday, investors got nervous. They wanted to know. Would the feds officially nationalize them? No one believes the two will disappear…
August 22nd, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 1 comment | Continued
Fannie and Freddie Say Goodbye to Veto
The big news this morning is that President Bush has dropped his threat of a veto for the housing bill that will bail both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out…
July 24th, 2008 | Kate Incontrera | 1 comment | Continued
Fannie and Freddie: Playing With a Stacked Deck
As recently as February of this year, Russian officials cleared the way for two of its sovereign wealth funds, the Reserve Fund and National Wellbeing Fund, to invest in various foreign bonds, including those issued by the twin towers of American residential finance, Fannie and Freddie. “The prospect for every GSE bond clearly states that it is not backed by the United States government,” says Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks.
July 21st, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 12 comments | Continued
Fannie and Freddie Bailout Didn’t Have Quite the Healing Power
Despite the rescue of Fannie and Freddie, U.S. banks, such as Washington Mutual and Cleveland’s National City, are in full retreat following the collapse of IndyMac. WaMu went down 35%…
July 16th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
Fannie and Freddie are Finito
Yes, the dark twins of mortgage finance dominated the news over the weekend. Every financial page covered the story. One story reported that the government was mounting a rescue operation…
July 15th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
The Feds Are Counting on Fannie and Freddie to End the Nation’s Housing Misery
Freddie and Fannie were the darlings of Wall Street…the leaders of the house price bubble…with nearly half the nation’s $12 trillion worth of mortgages…
July 14th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Fannie and Freddie Are Surely Doomed
“The downturn in the housing market is beginning to bite corporate Australia,” reports Ben Butler in today’s Herald Sun. “Shares of big building supplies company CSR plunged almost 15 per cent yesterday after it warned the housing market was taking a hit from high interest rates and declining confidence.” And so it begins. Actually, it began years ago when people began to think that house prices always go up in double digits.
July 11th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued
