Below is the full text of today’s Federal Reserve Statement:
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March indicates that the economy has continued to contract, though the pace of contraction appears to be somewhat slower. Household spending has shown signs of stabilizing but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Weak sales prospects and difficulties in obtaining credit have led businesses to cut back on inventories, fixed investment, and staffing. Although the economic outlook has improved modestly since the March meeting, partly reflecting some easing of financial market conditions, economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time. Nonetheless, the Committee continues to anticipate that policy actions to stabilize... more»
An interesting Bloomberg feature Wednesday looks at Ben Bernanke’s penchant for studying up on the Great Depression, and details the Fed chairman’s faith in low mortgage rates leading the way out of the nation’s housing mess:
Conventional mortgages averaged 4.61 percent in 1951, 4 percent when backed by the Veterans Administration, and 4.25 percent by the Federal Housing Administration, according to “The Postwar Residential Mortgage Market,” a 1961 book written by Saul Klaman and published by Princeton University Press. Rates during the 1930s were as high as 7 percent.
Bernanke, a Harvard-educated student of the Great Depression who spent his 20-year academic career writing and teaching about the 1930s, is using his knowledge of that era to avoid the missteps policy makers... more»
We all know by now that Goldman’s Q12009 was, well, golden. But the NY Times’ Floyd Norris has some very pertinent questions, like: where’d December go?
6:50 a.m.| Where’s December?: Goldman Sachs reported a profit of $1.8 billion in the first quarter, and plans to sell $5 billion in stock and get out of the government’s clutches, if it can.
How did it do that? One way was to hide a lot of losses in not-so-plain sight.
Goldman’s 2008 fiscal year ended Nov. 30. This year the company is switching to a calendar year. The leaves December as an orphan month, one that will be largely ignored. In Goldman’s earnings statement, and in most of the news reports, the quarter ended March 31 is compared to the quarter last year that ended in February.
The orphan month featured —... more»
For weeks, I’ve been getting emails from readers about this survey released by the consumer group ACORN about a month ago. A refresher on the finer points of the survey:
In the first effort of its kind, ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) surveyed all major mortgage servicing companies in the nation, and has found that at least 76% of outstanding mortgage loans are serviced by companies who have committed to implementing the Obama plan.
I’ve received all sort of emails saying that we needed to cover this item here at HousingWire, either as good news, or to call ACORN to the mat on some sort of BS. We didn’t cover this “news” for one very simple reason: the study is meaningless and says nothing.
It’s not hard to find out who manages... more»
Below is a statement released Friday from Larry Goldstone, president and CEO and Thornburg Mortgage. The company, as many of you know, is headed for bankruptcy after struggling to stay afloat for two years — despite running one of the most conservative lending books in the entire industry. It’s a sad story, and one that should remind us of just how tough a climate we’re really facing. We send our best wishes to those affected.
Today has been a really difficult day for our organization as we have separated with a majority of our colleagues. When an organization has to go through such an exercise, it is always unfortunate because it affects people who were not responsible for the circumstances and who we care about deeply.
Thornburg Mortgage, Inc. has been through a very difficult... more»
This past week, NPR ran an insightful series that focused in on how Fannie Mae is operationally responding to the nation’s housing crisis. For those of us that come out of the default management space, there may not be a ton of new ground here, but it is a good overview for those looking to open the door into the oft-hidden world of servicing troubled loans. Kudos to the folks at Fannie Mae and at Nationstar for opening up and discussing at least some of their operations with the press.
Here’s Part 1 of the series, and here’s Part 2.
What I found interesting is the notion now that ’servicing matters’ — that we’re seeing employees in the servicing function value their role, and that they understand the critical role they now play in the nation’s... more»
