Free Republic

Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) shares advanced on Monday after "Big Short" investor Michael Burry wrote up a deep dive on the two mortgage giants and their possible relisting. FNMA gained 1.4% in midafternoon trading, while FMCC increased 1.8%. “There remains a final steep, windy and rocky climb to IPO for both," Burry wrote in a 6,000-word post on Substack. "The deeper the fund of historical knowledge, the stronger the analytic foundation, the better the result will be for the investor,” he added. It would not be surprising to see Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) acquiring a large portion...

A top U.S. regulator is considering taking steps to ease strains on mortgage companies facing a cash crunch as millions of Americans struggling with fallout from the coronavirus suspend their monthly payments, according to people familiar with the matter. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is weighing whether to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage-finance giants, to buy home loans that recently entered forbearance, meaning borrowers have stopped making payments, the people said. That would help nonbank mortgage companies that lend to home buyers and then quickly sell the loans to Fannie and Freddie. The strategy was upended...

President Obama never was shy about using his phone and pen to achieve what he could not get from Congress on regulatory matters. But documents revealed last week show the Obama administration may have been willing to get around congressional decisions on spending by using a slush fund of sorts funded by the profits of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the two government-sponsored home loan giants. Fannie and Freddie are federally chartered enterprises which buy mortgage loans from banks and bundle them into securities that are sold to investors, thus freeing up capital so that banks can make more home...