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Reports: Senate nears agreement on consumer financial protection
Binyamin Appelbaum, at the WaPo, reports that Senators Dodd and Corker (Tenn) are nearing a deal to give authority for financial consumer protection to the Federal Reserve. Uh, wasn’t the Fed already responsible for consumer financial protection? More from the WSJ: Senators Outline Plan to Create New Consumer-Protection Unit Within…
1.2 Million to Lose Unemployment Benefits Today
Just a reminder … John Schmid at the Journal Sentinel: Unemployment benefits for 1.2 million Americans could expire Sunday Nearly 1.2 million unemployed Americans … face an imminent cutoff of government unemployment checks if Congress cannot pass emergency legislation to extend federal benefits before funding expires Sunday. The National Employment…
Fed Balance Sheet and MBS Purchases
Here is the Federal Reserve balance sheet break down from the Atlanta Fed weekly Financial Highlights : Graph Source: Altanta Fed. From the Atlanta Fed: The balance sheet expanded $20 billion, to $2.3 trillion, for the week ended February 17. Holdings of agency debt and mortgage backed securities increased $49…
Existing Home Sales Decline Sharply in January
The NAR reports: Existing-Home Sales Down in January Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – dropped 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 5.05 million units in January from a revised 5.44 million in December, but remain 11.5 percent above the 4.53 million-unit level in…
97,000 Homeowners in "Loan Mod Limbo"
Paul Kiel at ProPublica reports: Chase and Other Servicers Leave Many in Loan Mod Limbo; Treasury Threatens Penalties About 97,000 homeowners in the government’s mortgage modification program have been stuck in a trial period for over six months. Most of them, about 60,000, have their mortgages with a single mortgage…