Fannie Purchases Fall, But ...

Mortgage purchases by Fannie Mae fell in February to $106 billion, the secondary giant's weakest purchase month since November, but the decline will likely be short-lived.The company reported that retained commitments (an indicator of future activity) rose to $51 billion during the month, compared with just $25 billion in January. Fannie's "duration gap," which measures asset/liability repricing durations, increased to negative-five months in February. In trading at midday Thursday, Fannie's shares were up about 1%. "In all, February was another solid month" for the company, said Salomon Smith Barney analyst Matt Vetto. Fannie's best purchase month ever occurred in January, when it bought $121 billion in mostly home mortgages. Fannie Mae can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.