A look at stories across HousingWire’s weekend desk…with more coverage to come on bigger issues: The eyes of mortgage investors will be on earnings reports from the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) this week, according to Yahoo Finance, although this information could not be confirmed with GSE spokespeople before market open. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain under the auspices of the United States government. But Federal stimulus, namely the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit, means the two firms are being indirectly tested through a turbulent quarter. For example, home sales began to drop in May (267,000 annualized home sales) from April (422,000), only to rebound some in June (330,000). But, how have the two performed in the secondary market for Q210? Mark Rogers, senior US economist for Econoday remarks: “The end of fiscal stimulus means that the government sector likely will be sluggish. Housing is a really big question mark.” Generally favorable corporate earnings from the last week showed promise. But after the US Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis GDP report on Friday showed that the output of goods and services produced by US labor and property — grew at an annual rate of 2.4% in Q210, GDP growth fell more than expected. Rogers adds, “it turns out that the recession was worse than previously believed and the recovery was more modest than earlier estimated.” Despite record low mortgage rates, few borrowers are refinancing. Amid speculation the US government will intervene in the housing market by making it easier to refinance, mortgage investors are scaling back involvement, according to a report in the Financial Times. The FT reported Sunday that investors have made returns of 6% on US mortgage investments, yielding tens of billions of dollars of paper profits in mortgage trades. But now those same investors are pulling back, because the prospect of a huge refinancing wave would cut profits. There have been no official announcements from Washington on such a policy and as HousingWire previously reported, analysts at Barclays Capital, as well as Credit Suisse and JPMorgan, do not believe a program to offer homeowners a way to refinance at lower rates will materialize. The FT report says an upcoming Treasury Department conference on the mortgage market and the GSEs is fueling the speculation. “The mortgage summit planned later this month has begun to attract a lot of attention among mortgage investors and has led to growing speculation of a massive [refinancing] wave,” chief economist for Mizuho Securities USA, Steven Ricchiuto, told the FT. For its part, Fannie Mae’s total book of mortgage business was more than $3.2trn at the end of June 2010, a compound annualized decline of 1.3%, the GSE reported late Friday. For the first half of 2010, Fannie had new business acquisitions of nearly $422.9bn, nearly 49% less than new business acquisitions in H109. Fannie said the conventional single-family serious delinquency rate fell 15bps in May to 5.15% and the multifamily serious delinquency rate fell 2bps to 0.76% in May. Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities (MBS) issuances through the first half of the year was $2.4trn, and liquidations totaled $3.9trn during the same time. The annualized liquidation rate was 27.86%. The total Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and other guarantees totaled nearly $2.7trn, a compound annualized decline of 9.8%. Swiss bank UBS may be ramping up its US mortgage operations. Reports say the firm plans to hire executives from Goldman Sachs and Bank of America to build its mortgages and lending business in the U.S. Credit the Wall Street Journal for reporting that Jonathan Kessler will be hired from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and will serve as head of banking and lending. Frank Destra, who worked in Goldman’s mortgage operations, will become head of mortgages in the UBS unit, as the firm looks to increase its presence in the space. PMI Mortgage Insurance sold its investment in FGIC Corporation, according to a press release late Friday. The terms of the sale of its equity ownership in the holding company of Financial Guaranty Insurance Company were not disclosed. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced the failure of five banks on Friday, bringing the total numbers of failed banks in the first seven months of 2010 to 108. Through July in 2009, there were 69 bank failures. Friday’s failures are estimated to cost the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) $334.7m. Two of the closings were in Florida. The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) closed Port Saint Joe-based Bayside Savings Bank, and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation closed Panama City Beach-based Coastal Community Bank. Conway, Ark.-based Centennial Bank entered into a purchase and assumption agreement for both banks, with the combined 13 branches reopening as locations of Centennial Bank. Centennial Bank did not pay the FDIC a premium for the $415.6m in combined deposits of the failed banks and will purchase virtually all their $439m in assets. The cost to the DIF is estimated at $110.7m. The Oregon Division of Finance and Corporate Securities closed Eugene-based LibertyBank. Nampa, Idaho-based Home Federal Bank paid a 1% a premium to assume all of the failed bank’s $718.5m in deposits and will purchase $419.7m of $768.2m of the failed bank’s assets. The 15 LibertyBank branches reopened as Union Bank locations and the estimated cost to the DIF is $115.3m. The Washington Department of Financial Institutions closed Longview-based Cowlitz Bank. Olympia, Wash.-based Heritage Bank paid a 1% a premium to assume all of the failed bank’s $513.9m in deposits and agreed to purchase approximately $280m of the failed bank’s $529.3m in assets. The nine Cowlitz Bank branches reopened as Heritage Bank locations and the estimated cost to the DIF is $68.9m. The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance closed Acworth-based NorthWest Bank and Trust. Macon, Ga.-based State Bank and Trust Company did not pay a premium to assume all the failed bank’s $159.4m in deposits and will purchase essentially all of the bank’s $167.7m in assets. The two NorthWest Bank and Trust branches reopened as State Bank and Trust locations and the estimated cost to the DIF is $39.8m. Write to Jacob Gaffney. Austin Kilgore provided additional coverage. The authors hold no relevant investments.