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  • Jan 03, 2025

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac shares surge after federal agencies reveal privatization path

(Reuters) -Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants under U.S. government control since 2008, surged to multi-year highs on Friday after federal agencies revealed a framework for their "orderly" release from conservatorship. The U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said on Thursday they had amended their agreements with the companies to help ensure that their eventual exit from conservatorship is not disruptive. Exiting conservatorship would mark a key milestone for Fannie and Freddie, which were created by the Congress to support the housing market by ensuring affordable mortgage financing, but crumbled after being severely bruised during the 2008 financial crisis.

  • Jan 03, 2025

Fed policy may need to stay restrictive for longer due to inflation risk, Barkin says

BALTIMORE (Reuters) -The U.S. central bank's benchmark policy rate should stay restrictive until it is more certain that inflation is returning to its 2% target, Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin said on Friday. "I think there is more upside risk than downside risk" to inflation, given the economy's continued strength and the possibility of renewed wage and other price pressures, Barkin told the Maryland Bankers Association in Baltimore. Though Barkin is not a voting member of the Fed's rate-setting committee this year, his comments reflect a developing debate inside the central bank about when to cut interest rates again and how to account for an increasingly uncertain economic environment as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take power again later this month.

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