June 2009 - MND NewsWire

Fannie Mae, the mortgage goliath taken under government control last September, yesterday announced that its portfolio expanded by an annual rate of 35.1% in May, marking a stark contrast to the 19.2% decline in April. In its summary of monthly highlights, the agency said it provided nearly $72 billion of liquidity to the market, mostly in the form of Mortgage-Backed Securities ($67.7 billion). Fannie also securitized more than $61 billion of whole loans within their investment portfolio. Fannie

The transition from June to July offers a packed schedule for investors. No data comes out Monday and Friday is a holiday, but the three days in between present key data and numerous speeches covering all fronts of the economy. The S&P 500 has gained 43% since its low in early March, and while some are calling a plateau inevitable, others believe positive data could convince investors that genuine recovery is on the horizon. The biggest release this week will be the Employment figures on Thursday

News was mixed for the real estate market this morning. Sales of new single-family homes fell 0.6% in May, in contrast to expectations of a 2.3% increase. By itself, that would be awful news, but revisions to April told the opposite story: the original 0.3% advance was revised way up to a 2.7% gain. The annual pace of new home sales is now 342,000, a whopping 32.8% below the rate in May 2008. Despite the revisions for April, that figure is quite a bit below forecasts for an annual rate of of 365

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released first quarter foreclosure prevention data for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Total foreclosure prevention actions (including loan modifications) totaled 86,600, 20 percent more than the previous quarter and more than double the amount of first quarter 2008. Of the nearly 87,000 actions, 90 percent resulted in home retention, which is consistent with 2008 data, while the remaining 10% resulted in mostly short sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosure

Sales of existing homes saw their first back-to-back increase in nearly four years last month, but while the percentage gain in May was encouraging, the actual level of sales was lower than expected due to downward revisions. The pace of all existing home sales rose 2.4% in May to 4.77 million, up from the April pace of 4.66 million. Compared to May 2008, the sales pace has fallen by 3.6%. The National Association of Realtors said demand is up due to falling house prices, the first-time buyer tax

Investor sentiment began the week with a rapid downward slide after the World Bank released new forecasts severely downgrading the prospects for a global recovery. The world economy remains "unusually uncertain" and is now expected to shrink 2.9% this year, the World Bank said, compared with the -1.7% prediction issued in March. Markets opened lower and extended losses in the first hour of trading. As of 11:00, the Nasdaq had shed 2.50% to 1781, the S&P 500 had lost 2.12% to 902, and

Stocks opened on par with yesterday’s close but have since climbed higher on encouraging data reports. A weekly labor report showed mixed results, a regional manufacturing report showed significant improvement, and the leading indicators index improved for the second straight month. Ninety minutes into the session, the S&P 500 is up 0.61% to 916, led by gains in the financial sector. The Dow has made a similar 0.69% gain to 8556. However, the Nasdaq index is 0.23% lower at 1803. Also, the

Demand for mortgages plummeted last week, pushing the index tracking mortgage applications down to a seven month low, even as average rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage moderated, a weekly report said Wednesday. Loan applications decreased 15.8% in the week ending June 12, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, who have been conducting the survey since 1990. Meantime, the Purchase Index fell 3.5%. The average contract rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased from 5.57% in the prior