JPMorgan to Sell Bonds Backed by $616 Million of Mortgages Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. is planning to sell securities backed by $616 million of mortgages without government backing, Fitch Ratings said. The bonds, its first in the so-called non-agency market since the financial crisis, are made riskier by weaker covenants ...

From Gloom to Bloom

Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement

Banks, credit unions, and other financial services providers are concerned with compliance costs - how much it costs to comply with financial regulations - and we're interested as well. Regulations can have many benefits for consumers, but the benefits sometimes come at a cost. What we want to know What are the extent and nature [...]

Yesterday, in a 12-10 party line vote, the Senate Banking Committee approved Richard Cordray’s nomination to be CFPB Director. This means the nomination is now headed for a vote by the full Senate. It is expected that Republican Senators will attempt to block a final vote while they push their call for major structural changes to... More >

One way or another, the situation is Cyprus likely marks a major turning point in the eurozone crisis. It could be the beginning of true disaster for the zone, eventually leading to a series of sovereign debt defaults and possible exits from the euro area. It could also be the point at which we learn that the eurozone has done enough to shore itself up and regain market confidence, so that a disaster in Cyprus does not spread, now or later, to other vulnerable countries. Yet, of course, the result could also be anticlimactic and not a turning point after all. Europe retains the ability to miraculously muddle through, neither truly fixing the Cyprus problem nor allowing it to turn catastrophic, living to fight another day. It is extraordinarily hard to predict what happens next in Cyprus and the eurozone, which is why it is so puzzling that markets are not more scared. They appear to have crisis fatigue, producing a complacency that combines a tinge of cynicism about the long-term resolution of anything with a belief that the zone can keep dancing between the bullets, in the short run anyway. There is the possibility that Russia, which has many interests in Cyprus, will provide the necessary financial aid, in lieu of the eurozone. However, Russia is far too canny for this to be a likely result, unless the maneuvering of elites behind the scenes at the Kremlin happens to align exactly as needed by the Cypriots. Overall, adopting Cyprus from its unhappy eurozone parents could be a very expensive folly. More likely, Putin strings the Cypriots along without making a binding offer of the necessary support. There is a higher probability that the eurozone finds a politically acceptable way to increase its support and to bridge the gap with the Cypriots. However, the two sides just spent the last nine months trying to do this and were stopped by insuperable political and policy obstacles. These appear to have gotten worse, if anything, although one never knows how a crisis atmosphere...

With increasing fervor, investors are asking what is the U.S. central bank's exit strategy for getting rid of all the government debt it has bought in an effort to stimulate risk assets and boost the economy.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Fannie Mae was up more than 25% and Freddie Mac was up more than 21% on Wednesday as both firms look to return to profitability and will be able to repay the government earlier than expected, said a report. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said the two mortgage lenders will be able to return money to the U.S Treasury after new terms were negotiated, according to reports. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, known as government-sponsored enterprises or GSEs, buy mortgages from lenders and repackage them as securities. The strength in the housing market is supporting both firms in their recovery since the financial crisis.

By proposing a tax on bank savers in Cyprus as a condition for a financial bailout, the European Union has "blackmailed the government of Cyprus to shut down its financial system," Athanasios Orphanides, former governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, told CNBC on Wednesday.

Who would have thought that what caused the next crisis would not be poor economic output stats, but rather a hamfisted piece of pure theft that proves once again, just as the creators of the euro project demonstrated back in the 1990s, that EU governments have a zero understanding of finance and what makes markets work, writes Moorad Choudhry.

Stock index futures are pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Wednesday as investors look ahead to the Federal Reserve's (Fed) latest on monetary policy, but keep a close eye on developments in Cyprus.

As we reported last week, the White House has been considering nominating Rep. Mel Watt (D., N.C.) to lead the federal regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But Mr. Watt could face a tough confirmation fight if comments from a key Republican are any indication.

U.S. mortgage finance company Freddie Mac is suing more than a dozen banks for losses from the alleged manipulation of the benchmark interest rate known as Libor.

With Cyprus creating a new wave of worry, markets will be looking to the Fed Wednesday to keep a steady hand on the tiller. At the end of its two-day meeting, the Fed is expected to keep monetary policy unchanged, continuing its super low rates policy and its $85 billion a month in asset purchases.