Latest news with #FannieMae
Wall Street Journal
2 hours ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Fannie and Freddie Changes Would Reshape the Mortgage Market. It Hinges on These Questions.
The Trump administration wants to sell shares in two government-controlled companies that are crucial for getting a mortgage. First it needs to figure out what it wants the mortgage market to look like. A public offering for Fannie Mae FNMA -1.03%decrease; red down pointing triangle and Freddie Mac FMCC 1.40%increase; green up pointing triangle could raise money to help reduce the government deficit. President Trump has twice mentioned selling shares in recent days.
Globe and Mail
5 hours ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
New ETF Will Track Bill Ackman's Investments
A new exchange-traded fund (ETF) will track the investments of hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter Ackman runs the Pershing Square (PSH) hedge fund and has a strong and loyal following among individual retail investors. He currently has 1.7 million followers on social media platform X. This year, Ackman is off to a strong start thanks to a winning investment he made in mortgage concern the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae. Now, asset manager Tidal Trust has filed to launch an ETF that will be based on the concentrated portfolio of Ackman. Called the 'Vista Shares Pershing Square Select ETF,' this is the latest investment vehicle from Tidal Trust that tracks the holdings of notable investors such as Stanley Druckenmiller, Michael Burry, and Warren Buffett. Major Holdings Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings stock is up 2% this year versus a total return of 1% for the benchmark S&P 500 index. In recent months, Ackman's fund has gotten a lift from its investments in Fannie Mae and also the Federal Home Loan Mortgage (FMCC). Ackman currently owns 220 million shares of the two mortgage agencies, a stake worth about $2 billion. Also this year, Ackman has gotten approval for Pershing Square to buy $900 million of Howard Hughes Holdings (HHH) stock and turn the real estate company into a diversified holding company, which he has called a 'mini Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B).' Other major stock holdings of Bill Ackman include Uber Technologies (UBER), Hertz Global (HTZ), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), and Amazon (AMZN). Is PSH Stock a Buy? three-month performance. As one can see in the chart below, PSH stock has declined 6% in London trading over the past three months.
Forbes
17 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
Privatizing Fannie And Freddie: Rationales And Credit Impacts
An American flag at a residential home in Discovery Bay, California, US, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. ... More Mortgage rates in the US increased to the highest level since July. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg All week, markets and politicians been dissecting the President Trump's proposal to privatize Fannie and Freddie. As they support 70% of the U.S. mortgage market, it is important to consider the credit markets impacts and risks for the U.S. These are still hard to work out until the rationale becomes clear, beyond removing the FHFA as conservator. Since their creation, the two main GSEs have been quintessential mixed-ownership corporations. In 1938, FNMA was established as a standalone company in the New Deal. It was acquired in 1950 by the entity that became the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with two classes of shares: preferred, held by the U.S. Treasury, and common, non-voting, held by a network of mortgage lenders. In 1968, Fannie was reorganized and split into a successor FNMA and Ginnie Mae. The successor FNMA was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and chartered to purchase, bundle and sell residential mortgages as securities (RMBS). GNMA became part of HUD. Its function: to guarantee payments on securitizations backed by mortgages issued under programs by U.S. government departments like HUD, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture. FHLMC was created in 1970 along lines similar to FNMA—publicly traded, earning guarantee fees on loan portfolios, with HUD oversight—but its client network is smaller banks and credit unions rather than large banks. Originally, FHLMC was owned by the Federal Home Loan Banks, but under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 it became independent. In 1995, FHLMC diversified into making markets in subprime mortgage collateral. In 2008, Fannie and Freddie suffered material losses on their combined mortgage portfolio of USD 1.5 TN. They were bailed out, delisted from the NYSE on July 7, 2010, placed under FHFA's conservatorship, and began trading on OTC markets the next day. The stock of both institutions remains publicly investible alongside their residential mortgage-backed securities and corporate bonds. So there must be more to the current proposal than giving American investors access. The Big Beautiful Bill will shrink the U.S. tax base if it passes the Senate. Could privatizing these mortgage giants fill the gap with new, incremental tax revenues? It is hard to say without a concrete deal structure in place. However, the mortgage giants already pay taxes on operating income, as well as paying federal, state and local taxes on securities' earned interest. So the motivation to privatize is not obviously tax-related. It may have more to do with the U.S. Treasury currently owning the GSE preferreds as well as warrants on 80% of common stock. If pricing on a future IPO were to hit or exceed the target, the U.S. government could reap a one-time, massive windfall. Arranging banks would profit handsomely as well. A USD Trillion IPO (Chairman Pulte's estimate) could generate fees in the range of USD 40 to 70 Billion. That's plenty of incentive for a successful initial offering. But for most Americans, what matters more is what happens in the aftermarket. First, what would be the go-forward impact on rates for homebuyers? The more common theory is that the replacement entities, being purely profit-driven and maybe facing higher funding costs, would drive up rates—and up again as supply shrinks. A minority viewpoint says rates will go down as privatization drives innovation. The reality is—we can predict given a concrete exit plan, but without one, we just can't know. Second, and intimately linked, is the status of the U.S. guarantee. This decision would impact the entire credit market ecosystem starting with borrowers, whose numbers would shrink as government support goes away. If the new entities were to retain U.S. support in some form, the impacts on bank market microstructure and the competitive playing field are less clear; but don't expect the status quo to continue. Would a distributed ecosystem form anew, or would intense, uneven competition transform the U.S. bank market where only giants survive? Related to the status of the guarantee is how potential backlash could impact the U.S. government rating, which Moody's just downgraded to Aa1. Would global bond investors view sudden withdrawal as a default, regardless of the legal definition? And in this same point, will GNMA and its guarantee continue? The answer directly impacts home affordability for veterans, rural homeowners and disadvantaged groups. Third, are the potential changes to the GSE's current information disclosure regime. This question is not yet debated in the media but it should be. The go-forward disclosure package could have the greatest impact on aftermarket performance. Bonds are most active in the capital structure of GSEs today. Their required bond disclosures comply with the very best practices in the world that were created in the U.S. public securitization markets. Will the disclosures continue? Will the public have access to them after the IPO? Or will the financial position of the new players become more opaque as information disclosures lag changes in financial performance? We have seen this movie before in the GFC. It did not end well. Fourth, the operational impacts of privatization are unclear. Will the 30-year fixed rate model made in the 1930s continue or gradually be replaced by loan structures benefitting borrowers less and lenders more—floating rate indices, shorter and longer maturities, different funding formulas? Will a forward-settled market replace the To Be Announced market that FNMA and FHLMC currently use? The TBA market today allows sellers to fund their origination pipelines and buyers to lock in prices before transaction specifics are settled because the guarantee equalizes the potential risk between offerings. The cost benefits, which can be quite substantial, may disappear if the guarantee goes away. Fifth are what Donald Rumsfeld called unknown-unknowns. If the first four categories of unknowns are known (with the possible exception of #3), news unfolding daily shines a light on impacts we have not yet thought of. Was Moody's downgrade of FNMA a reflection of recent past performance, or does it also anticipate future shocks to the organization? Does the introduction of an anti-crime unit with AI fraud detection technology materially impact how ? WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: William Pulte, nominee for Director of the Federal Housing Finance ... More Agency testifies at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee on February 27, 2025 at the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, DC. When FHFA Director Bill Pulte says, 'what we're trying to do…is take cost out of the system and get homes so they can be affordable again,' is he referring to the current interest rate levels or foreshadowing a collapse in prices? These scenarios have drastically different economic consequences. Finally, when President Trump says, 'the U.S. will keep its implicit GUARANTEES,' the key word seems to me to be the one in small caps: implicit. Equities are story paper, but bonds are based on contracts; and it is hard to assign a financial value, positive or negative, to implicit support.
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
New ETF Will Track Bill Ackman's Investments
A new exchange-traded fund (ETF) will track the investments of hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. Confident Investing Starts Here: Ackman runs the Pershing Square (PSH) hedge fund and has a strong and loyal following among individual retail investors. He currently has 1.7 million followers on social media platform X. This year, Ackman is off to a strong start thanks to a winning investment he made in mortgage concern the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae. Now, asset manager Tidal Trust has filed to launch an ETF that will be based on the concentrated portfolio of Ackman. Called the 'Vista Shares Pershing Square Select ETF,' this is the latest investment vehicle from Tidal Trust that tracks the holdings of notable investors such as Stanley Druckenmiller, Michael Burry, and Warren Buffett. Major Holdings Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings stock is up 2% this year versus a total return of 1% for the benchmark S&P 500 index. In recent months, Ackman's fund has gotten a lift from its investments in Fannie Mae and also the Federal Home Loan Mortgage (FMCC). Ackman currently owns 220 million shares of the two mortgage agencies, a stake worth about $2 billion. Also this year, Ackman has gotten approval for Pershing Square to buy $900 million of Howard Hughes Holdings (HHH) stock and turn the real estate company into a diversified holding company, which he has called a 'mini Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B).' Other major stock holdings of Bill Ackman include Uber Technologies (UBER), Hertz Global (HTZ), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), and Amazon (AMZN). Is PSH Stock a Buy? three-month performance. As one can see in the chart below, PSH stock has declined 6% in London trading over the past three months.
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Palantir's stock price surges on AI news, gamma squeeze
It's becoming increasingly difficult to find websites that don't integrate an artificial intelligence chatbot. You open a site, and here is "Kira" (or whatever name you've chosen) asking you how she should address you. Personally, I find that to be very annoying. But that is the trend. Apparently, your company isn't serious enough or big enough if it doesn't have one. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Companies pushing AI just for the sake of having it is silly, but there are legitimate uses where AI doesn't end up just being a nuisance. Banks, pharmaceutical companies, retailers, and the U.S. military all use AI, and hopefully, most of them do it better than UnitedHealthcare. Seemingly every company is working on AI chatbots or agentic AI programs that simplify processes (and could replace human jobs). That's been a boon for AI stocks, including Palantir, which has seen its stock price soar 74% in 2025, including a 8% jump on May 30. Fannie Mae has more than $4.3 trillion in assets and plays a foundational role in the U.S. housing market. According to the company, it is the country's largest holder of residential mortgage debt outstanding, owning or guaranteeing an estimated one in four single-family mortgages and 20 percent of multifamily mortgages in the U.S. Related: Veteran trader makes bold move with Palantir, Rocket Lab and SoFi On May 28, the company announced the launch of its AI-powered crime detection unit in partnership with Palantir. The deal expands Fannie Mae's fraud detection capabilities with a new AI-enabled platform that the company believes will help detect and prevent mortgage fraud, potentially saving the U.S. housing market millions of dollars in future losses. "This partnership with Fannie Mae will set off a revolution in how we combat mortgage fraud in this country," said Alex Karp, co-founder and chief executive officer of Palantir. "We are bringing the fight directly to anyone who attempts to defraud our mortgage system and exploit hardworking Americans." But this deal wasn't the only reason behind Palantir's stock price jumping. In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies. Related: Palantir gets great news from the Pentagon In the past few months, Palantir has been granted more work across the federal government, a signal that it may benefit from that order. The use of Palantir isn't surprising. Palantir's roots trace back to developing solutions to secure sensitive government data, and the US government remains a significant driver of the company's revenue. In Q1, governments, including the U.S., contributed $373 million to the company's $884 million in sales. Palantir's government revenue was up 45% year over year in the quarter. Much of that growth is due to the demand for Palantir's Foundry, a data analytics platform, and its AIP (Artificial Intelligence Platform), which enables clients to use AI, including large language models (LLMs) and AI agents, within private networks. More Palantir Palantir gets great news from the PentagonWall Street veteran doubles down on PalantirPalantir bull sends message after CEO joins Trump for Saudi visit In May, the Department of Health and Human Services selected Palantir for its 5-year "Solutioning with Holistic Analytics Restructured for the Enterprise (SHARE)" blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA), valued at $90 million. The New York Times reported this week that Palantir is negotiating with at least two other agencies - the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service - about buying its technology. Meanwhile, TheStreet's Samuel O'Brient reports the Pentagon is significantly increasing the budget for Palantir's Maven Smart System to $1.3 billion over the next four years, a roughly $795 million increase. The prospect of additional Federal deals has emboldened investors. Retail investors and traders "are buying massive amounts" of call options, said longtime investor Don Kaufman during a recent appearance on Schwab Network, reported the InsiderMonkey. The jump in call activity is causing a 'gamma squeeze,' forcing market makers to buy the underlying shares in Palantir as protection to hedge their risk. Related: Veteran fund manager unveils eye-popping S&P 500 forecast The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
