Luke 532

Here's hoping (1) that Corker didn't receive one of those concessions and, (2) if he did, it has nothing to do with the GSE's. https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/tax-bill-2017/card/1512140946 Sen. Bob Corker Says Tax Bill Will Probably Pass “I realize that there’s probably enough votes right now to pass it,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) in a hallway interview on Friday morning. His comments suggest that Republican leaders have granted enough concessions to other Republicans to pass the tax bill later Friday. Sen. John Thune said Republican leaders were still working to win support from all 52 Republicans. Siobhan Hughes, Richard Rubin

"FHFA officials in negotiations have said they want Fannie and Freddie to keep $2 billion to $3 billion each as a buffer against losses, according to people familiar with the matter. Administration officials in exchange want to limit the mortgage giants’ market footprint by steps such as tightening restrictions on the size of loans they back, according to the people, who requested anonymity because the talks are private."

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Crapo says after reg relief clears the committee next week, housing finance reform will be his top priority for the remainder of the 115th Congress. #fanniemae #freddiemac #gsereform https://www.facebook.com/TambalaStrategy/posts/2100399606667365

Delaware case dismissed... yikes!

Meaningless. Until Trump opens his mouth and states clearly where he stands nobody else matters. Danger is, his mouth might remain shut all throughout the process. Given he said not one word in 1 year this danger is very real. Sure, but to be fair I don't recall Trump ever mentioning CFPB at all and in his first comment about it (this past week) he had a strong opinion and is taking action.

Trump picks Mulvaney as acting director of CFPB. Interesting.

Trump: "We'll be working on health care, infrastructure and welfare reform... That'll all take place right after taxes."

Yes, those 3 days are included in the average. That's double the daily average the past few months. It could be something and I wouldn't be surprised but the averages over any period of length doesn't seem all that abnormal to me.

Volume was actually higher from September 1 - November 2 average 1.172M shares. Even removing the largest single day of trading (8.648M Oct 18th), the average is still 998K shares.

on abnormally high volume, so either someone knows something or a fund is liquidating, or both On FNMAS, is a shade over 1 million shares (1.143M) average daily for last 11 trading days (not including today) really all that abnormal?

Whether there is no volume on a given day or some volume has ZERO bearing on any kind of resolution, positive or negative.

I'm surely suffering from bias at this point, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was the case. Ever since his confirmation hearings I have gotten the impression that he knows these companies better than nearly anyone. Especially at the confirmation hearing he realized he couldn't educate the politicians as to the ins-and-outs and it was almost useless to try, and repeatedly stated "I'm an expert on the GSE's."

Two interesting things... Ali Rogin‏Verified account @AliABCNews 13h13 hours ago SPOTTED: Treasury Sec. Steve Mnuchin leaving @SenBobCorker offices. Says tax negotiations are going great, going to keep reaching out to moderate Dems Pershing Q4 Letter (emphasis added is mine)... Senator Corker announced in late September that he will not seek re-election in 2018, and will leave the Senate upon expiry of his current term at the end of next year. Senator Corker has been one of the leading voices in Congress on housing finance reform for the last several years, and we believe that he would like to see this issue resolved before his retirement. He and his colleague Senator Warner have suggested that they will soon put forth new bipartisan legislation regarding housing finance reform, for which they should have the support of Secretary Mnuchin after the tax reform initiative concludes. In the meantime, the intrinsic earnings power of both entities continues to increase, driven by growth and improved credit quality in their core single-family guarantee businesses. We believe that the current share prices do not reflect the significant momentum that continues to build for a bipartisan resolution of their status that would be highly profitable for the government and other shareholders, protect the taxpayer against future bailouts, and ensure that the dream of home ownership remains widely achievable for generations to come.

Chapter 8 of my favorite investment book. :-)

LOL!

Ackman talking favorably again about Corker/Warner is bizarre.

Audio of Ackman today on GSE's. Starts at 28-minute mark: http://www.webcaster4.com/Player/Index?webcastId=23015&uid=4196886&g=110b0933-b9eb-47da-9c03-00cb6b62c8de&sid=

Before any interview or conference, Mnuchin might ask them to not discuss that topic.

How do you realistically keep the GSEs and ensure they are adequately capitalized? (Two things explicitly said by Mnuchin at this point) I hear ya, I'm just trying to spend my energy thinking of what strategy the gov't can conjure up that would leave shareholders high and dry. With that said, I think prefs end up doing very well.

I don't really think it's news that Mnuchin said the GSE's will live. There haven't been too many people still saying "kill the GSE's." Some, but not many. What matters is how shareholders are treated in any reform or fix.

Wilbur Ross' response...

Wilbur Ross brings up GSE's in the interview with Mnuchin awhile back... http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5229369696001/?#sp=show-clips https://www.insidemortgagefinance.com/imfnews/1_1232/daily/wilbur-ross-left-ocwen-just-in-time-1000043592-1.html?ET=imfpubs:e10062:73599a:&st=email&s=imfnews Why should the mortgage industry care about Ross, now that he’s out of the business? From what we’ve been told, the White House is expected to tap his expertise as it tries to figure out a plan to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Given his history in mortgages, he knows full well what a cyclical business residential finance can be. And if Ross is on the “GSE team” you can expect he will tap his friend James Lockhart, currently serving as vice chairman WL Ross & Co. Lockhart was the last person to hold the title of director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency before Fannie and Freddie were placed into their historic conservatorships nine-plus years ago…

Joe Light‏Verified account @joelight 2m2 minutes ago Mnuchin at the Economic Club of New York today said Fannie-Freddie reform will be a "big priority for next year." Says it will also look at FHA and Ginnie Mae. Says he has not considered stopping the GSEs' dividends and expects GSE reform to be done on a bipartisan basis

Dick Bove today... Two plans brewing in Washington could crush home prices, boost banks https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/09/washington-plans-could-crush-home-prices-boost-banks-commentary.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain Seems like a bit of posturing by Bove as I don't think he really believes the Administration is planning on eliminating the GSE's.

FP, thanks for the quick response! Fat Pitch, if the plan being discussed today is implemented, do you think Treasury just lets jr prefs sit and they do nothing with them? Curious of your thoughts on how they deal with jr prefs.