MBS

Former Chair Janet Yellen defended the Fed, expressed worry for the economy and gave advice to women on the rise at the MBA Annual Convention this week.

HSBC will pay $765 million to settle allegations that it sold defective residential mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis, resolving one of the London-based bank's last significant legal challenges with the U.S. government.

Wells Fargo is planning its first post-crisis offering of bonds tied to U.S. home loans without government backing, according to people familiar with the matter.

A decade after the credit crisis, investors are returning to where it all began. The mortgage sector, blamed in large part for the near-collapse of the global financial system, is now seen by many as a high-quality market forged by fire.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a proposal Wednesday that would require mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to align their policies on cash flows for current mortgage-backed securities, and eventually for a uniform security when it is implemented next year.

Housing finance reform is still likely years away, but a growing chorus of lawmakers say the government guarantor has the ability to clear the path to a final plan.

The Congressional Budget Office has found that restructuring the mortgage market would save the government billions of dollars but may increase the cost of housing.

Annaly Capital Management will be able to proceed with a delayed exchange offer needed for its acquisition of MTGE Investment Corp. because it has been able to satisfy incomplete deal conditions.

The expiration of Annaly Capital Management's offer to purchase MTGE Investment Corp. was delayed until Sept. 7 so the two real estate investment trusts have more time to satisfy deal conditions.

Signals are flashing red in the structured credit market, according to Bank of America.