Morning Report: Movement on housing reform 12/8/17

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

Last Change
S&P Futures 2647.0 7.8
Eurostoxx Index 389.5 3.1
Oil (WTI) 57.6 0.9
US dollar index 87.3 0.0
10 Year Govt Bond Yield 2.38%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA 102.625
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA 103.625
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage 3.92

Stocks are higher after a strong jobs report. Bonds and MBS are down small.

Jobs report data dump:

  • Payrolls up 228,000
  • Two month revision up 38,000
  • Unemployment rate 4.1%
  • Labor Force participation rate 62.7%
  • Average hourly earnings up 2.5% YOY

Overall a strong report, and probably good for the markets. The modest wage inflation will keep the Fed cautious, while slack continues to be taken up. That said, a rate hike is more or less a certainty next week. We probably won’t see any big pickup in wage inflation until the labor force participation rate gets back up to the 65% – 66% level.

In other labor news, job cuts increased slightly according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, while initial jobless claims fell to 236,000.

Consumer sentiment edged up slightly in November, according to the University of Michigan survey.

Congress came up with a deal to keep the lights on for two weeks. The debt ceiling will have to be raised at some point, although the government can use cash on hand and other extraordinary measures to get through until Spring. Expect to see some conservative Republicans to balk at additional spending, which makes bringing aboard some Democrats a necessity. A deal with Democrats will involve an equal hike in defense and non-defense spending as well as some sort of immigration deal. A shutdown doesn’t seem to be in the cards, at least not yet.

With all the commotion going in Washington right now, it is easy to forget about housing reform, but Bob Corker and Mark Warner are beginning to come to a consensus over what the future of housing finance should look like. Fannie and Fred will remain, but the government will make it easier for new competitors to enter the market. Jeb Hensarling of Texas has moderated his stance on government guarantees of mortgages, which helped move things along. The goal is to keep the mortgage market more or less as-is for borrowers, while increasing competition in the secondary market and bolstering taxpayer protection. In one wrinkle, the Fannie Mae preferred shareholder might get some sort of recovery. The prefs were up 24% on the news, while the common fell slightly.

The FHA will no longer insure mortgages for properties that include Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) assessments.”FHA can no longer tolerate putting taxpayers at risk by allowing obligations like these to be placed ahead of the mortgage itself in the event of a default,” said U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Dr. Ben Carson. “Assessments such as these are potentially dangerous for our Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund and may have serious consequences on a consumer’s ability to repay, or when they attempt to refinance their mortgage or sell their home.” Dave Stevens of the MBA also welcomed the decision.

Ginnie Mae is tightening requirements on securitizations in order to combat the high prepayment speeds that the securities have been experiencing. They targeted VA IRRRLs last year by making IRRRLs that refinanced a loan less than 6 months old ineligible for standard securitizations. Ginnie is now including cash-out refis and FHA streamlines as well. Some MBS strategists have predicted that this will weaken demand for the higher coupon Ginnie Mae securities, which would mean that borrowers get less and less of a pickup in points for going higher in rate.

Filed under: Economy, Morning Report |

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21 Responses

  2. jnc4p, on December 8, 2017 at 9:55 am said:

    Interesting in retrospect:

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/al-frankens-1999-book-saw-him-resigning-from-office

    Almost like Louis CK and his TV show.

    Like

    Reply
  3. Let the mutherfuker burn!, on December 10, 2017 at 8:58 am said:

    I had no idea that the El Niño and La Niña weather patterns were caused by global warming, er, climate change.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5163041/California-braces-high-winds-wildfires-continue.html

    And they say Trump will say anything.

    Question, does Brown really believe this, or is it just boob bait for the rubes?

    Like

    Reply
    • Brent Nyitray, on December 10, 2017 at 10:57 am said:

      He believes it. This shit is a religion for people…

      Like

      Reply
      • Kevin S. Willis, on December 11, 2017 at 10:05 am said:

        As everything was once caused by “the gods”, now everything is caused by Gaia. Offended by our environmentally unfriendly practices, Climate Change will punish us with forest fires and tornados and whatever else bad happens. Earthquakes? Climate Change, baby!

        Like

        Reply
  5. Let the mutherfuker burn!, on December 10, 2017 at 1:00 pm said:

    If you can’t get off on this then nothing can get you off.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. jnc4p, on December 11, 2017 at 11:54 am said:

    This should be interesting vis-a-vis Franken:

    “Sexual harassment should be treated as a hate crime
    By Sally Kohn
    December 11 at 6:00 AM”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/12/11/sexual-harassment-should-be-treated-as-a-hate-crime/

    Like

    Reply

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