Concern About the Taper's Start Affects Mortgage Stocks on Tuesday

Anticipation over a possible Federal Reserve announcement regarding the taper contributed to a nine point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Tuesday. It also affected the Mortgage Industry Equity Composite as 12 of the 17 members finished lower.

Fiserv had the largest percentage loss on the day from its Monday close, but that was because the stock did a two-for-one split before the market opened.

The next largest percentage loss among MIEC members was recorded by Astoria Financial at 1.75%, followed by Radian Group and MGIC Investment Corp.

Ironically, a report from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods recommended investors put money into mortgage insurers and title insurers. Fidelity National Financial closed 1% higher.

PHH and Redwood Trust each closed nearly 1.3% higher.

The latest delay in the closing of Hudson City Bancorp’s acquisition by M&T Bank Corp. caused the former’s stock price to drop 0.76%.