A look at stories across HousingWire’s weekend desk…with more coverage to come on bigger issues:

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that mortgage securitization giant Fannie Mae ($0.00 0%) has pledged its support to New York-based warehouse lender Guggenheim Partners.

Fannie agreed to purchase qualifying mortgages originated by Guggenheim's mortgage banking clients -- small lenders with warehouse lines funded by Guggenheim. This arrangement is designed to encourage Guggenheim to fund warehouse loans, which should in turn provide more capital to smaller lenders that originate mortgage loans.

The agreement comes as the recent announcement by both government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) -- Fannie and Freddie Mac ($0.00 0%) -- of delinquent loan buyouts continues to weigh on the minds of mortgage-backed securities investors, according to weekly commentary by Barclays Capital (BarCap). Analysts believe pressure on the spread of MBS bond yields to treasurys will be offset by a diminishing amount of tradable float caused by the Federal Reserve's purchases -- and now GSE buyouts.

"As the Fed’s scheduled exit from the mortgage market nears, the market has been bracing for increased widening pressure on spreads," analysts said. "However, the reduction of a significant amount of tradable float by the Fed has helped rolls perform well, keeping valuations tight."

BarCap noted that, in the wake of this week’s announcement, the amount of tradable float could be reduced even more.

"For example, about $200bn of loans are likely to be repurchased over the next few months," analysts said. "Additionally, buyout cash flows should be concentrated in higher coupons, thus affecting par coupons far less. And as many investors will want to re-invest pay-downs, they will be forced to go down in coupon, further supporting the current coupon basis."

BarCap saw "mild underperformance" across most of the coupon stack:

In weekly commentary on commercial MBS (or CMBS), BarCap analysts noted the Fed received requests for $1.26bn of loans to buy legacy CMBS through the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF). Although it marked "the lowest volume since the inception of the program," (illustrated below) analysts said an extension of the facility is unlikely.

Regulators shut down four depository institutions, naming as receiver the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). The weekly closures -- which are estimated to cost the FDIC nearly $1.07bn -- bring total bank failures so far in 2010 to 20.

It was the first round of failures since February 5.

The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) shuttered La Jolla Bank. OneWest Bank assumes all $2.8bn of deposits and essentially all $3.6bn of the failed bank's assets. The closure is expected to cost the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) $882.3m.

The Illinois Department of Financial Professional Regulation - Division of Banking shut down George Washington Savings Bank. FirstMerit Bank assumes essentially all $412.8m of assets, and it paid a 0.31% premium to the FDIC to acquire the failed bank's $397m of deposits. The failure is expected to cost the DIF $141.4m.

The Florida Office of Financial Regulation shuttered Marco Community Bank. Mutual of Omaha Bank takes on esentially all of the failed bank's $119.6m, and paid the FDIC a 1.5% premium to assume all $117.1m of deposits. The failure is expected to cost the FDIC's DIF $38.1m.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) shut down La Coste Naitonal Bank. Community National Bank will purchase essentially all $53.9m of assets, and will pay the FDIC a 0.51% premium to acquire the failed bank's $49.3m of deposits. The failure is estimated to cost the DIF $3.7m.

Write to Diana Golobay.

Disclosure: The author holds no relevant investment positions.