Annaly Capital Management (NLY) is clawing back from its worst quarterly performance in more than 7 years as the largest real estate investment trust that buys mortgage debt seeks to sidestep the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interference in credit markets.

Chief Executive Officer Wellington Denahan is buying Crexus Investment (CXS), a commercial mortgage investor, increased the firm’s use of borrowed money after Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said in September he would keep acquiring home-loan bonds to push down home loan costs, and repurchased shares.

She assumed the top job in October as Annaly’s former head and her co- founder Michael Farrell was dying from cancer.