Tag Archives: Federal Reserve

Tomorrow, Friday, October 1, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will host the Financial Stability Oversight Council's first meeting at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Geithner is the chairperson of the Council. The meeting will include both a closed session and an open session, which begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT and will be streamed live on the Treasury's Web site.

The weekly reports on mortgage interest rates were mixed this week - but figures are still lingering close to record-lows, improving affordability for both homebuyers and borrowers looking to refinance. Freddie Mac reported Thursday that both the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate and the 15-year fixed-rate were unchanged from last week, while shorter-term rates were mixed. Bankrate said mortgage rates across the board dropped to new record lows it its study.

The analysts at Moody's are downbeat in their outlook for both the U.S. economy and the housing market. They warn that the there's a stronger chance the country will slide back into a recession, and they are forecasting a longer and deeper housing correction. Because of weak housing demand, soft job creation, and the slow speed at which the industry is working through distressed mortgages, Moody's says recovery is already back-sliding into a double-dip. The agency expects house prices to fall until the third quarter of next year.

A coalition of community groups called on the Federal Reserve to overhaul a 35-year old law that requires lenders to report vital information on their mortgage lending practices. At a Federal Reserve Board hearing held last week in Chicago, advocates urged the Fed to increase the scope of information mortgage lenders must report and to use the data to crack down on lenders that engage in the sorts of discriminatory and abusive lending practices that led to the current foreclosure crisis and financial meltdown.

The big news coming out of Washington today -- President Obama will hold a special press briefing Friday to name Elizabeth Warren to set up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She won't be nominated to fill the role of the bureau's chief, as has been widely expected, at least not yet. Instead, she'll be appointed assistant to the president and special advisor to the secretary of the Treasury. She'll head a steering committee responsible for getting the new agency, which will oversee mortgage lending, up and running.

Two closely-watched industry studies that track weekly mortgage interest rates were sending mixed signals on Thursday. The good news for homebuyers and borrowers looking to refinance is that rates are still hovering near 50-year lows. Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year rate edged up to 4.37 percent this week, while the 15-year rate dropped to 3.82 percent. Bankrate reported declines across the board.

Economic growth is still grinding along, but has slowed considerably since earlier in the year, according to the Federal Reserve's popular Beige Book report released Wednesday. Reports from the 12 Fed districts on their local economies painted a picture of ""widespread signs of a deceleration."" Real estate remains a drag on economic growth in regions across the country, with major trouble spots identified in poor home sales and weak demand for commercial space.

The Federal Reserve has issued new rules intended to protect consumers from deceptive mortgage lending, including explicit restrictions on how mortgage brokers and loan officers can be compensated. Specifically, the impending payment requirements, which go into effect next April, prohibit loan originators from double-charging for origination fees and from steering borrowers into less-than-optimal loan products in return for higher compensation. Moody's says these changes will translate into a lower probability of default on mortgage loans.

Neighborhoods across the country are riddled with empty bank-owned homes and unoccupied foreclosures that erode neighboring property values and open the door for blight and criminal activity. The nation's glut of vacant REOs took center stage in Washington Wednesday. HUD announced a new nationwide REO ""First Look"" program, in partnership with the nation's largest mortgage lenders, and it was the first of a two-day Federal Reserve summit to examine the community impacts of foreclosed and vacant properties.

All eyes were on Jackson Hole, Wyoming Friday, as leaders of the world's central banks convened for an annual retreat in the small, quiet town along the Teton mountain range. The most anticipated attraction - Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, as market analysts, economists, and Wall Street looked for some semblance of the Fed's plan to deal with the nation's lukewarm economic recovery. Bernanke insisted that he doesn't believe the U.S. will revert into another recession, but he promised to react swiftly if the recovery doesn't pick up.