I hate politics and talking about political issues with anyone, ever, unless they have a clear and specific impact on bond markets.  That was the case with the US presidential election in November.  It was the case as policymaking hit roadb... (read more)

The week began in slow fashion yesterday both in terms of volume and volatility. That largely remained the case in the bigger picture today, despite some intraday volatility.  It's no longer the case after the close of trading due to the prevalence of the word "impeachment" on the twit-o-sphere, but for now we'll stick to recapping today's events and ... (read more)

The Home Affordable Refinance Program or HARP may be in its waning days, but is still being used by underwater homeowners . The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its Q1 Refinance Report showing that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed over a half million refinances during the quarter, and 3 percent (13,425) were done through HARP. The program w... (read more)

Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Team had as a headline for its May forecast, It's Déjà Vu All Over (and Over) Again. Déjà vu indeed, as for the fourth straight year first quarter economic growth slowed from the preceding quarter . Annualized real gross domestic product (GDP) came in at an anemic 0.7 percent, down from... (read more)

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said today that mortgage applications were down across the board during the week ended May 12, with refinancing taking the biggest hit. MBA's Market Composite Index, a measure of loan application volume, fell 4.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the Index for the week ended May 5. On an unadjusted basis, the ... (read more)

A Bank Director survey of bank directors, execs, and HR officers finds the top compensation challenges last year were, in order, tying compensation to performance, recruiting commercial lenders, compensation and benefit costs, retaining key people, and competitive pay. The Government and Residential Lending Mortgage lender Financial Freedom agreed to pay a s... (read more)