Also: CoStar boosts CoreLogic offer, Biden extends forebearance and the Fed sounds alarms on commercial real estate

Just because the Fed is staying put doesn’t mean that mortgage rates, and prices of MBS, are staying put as well, writes Vice Capital Markets Principal Chris Bennett.

The Federal Reserve warned of significant risks of business bankruptcies and steep drops in commercial real estate prices in a report published on Friday.

In their detailed presentation to the FOMC last month, Fed staff “assessed asset valuation pressures as elevated” — their highest characterization of risk.

The best mortgage bonds to buy now may be the ones the Federal Reserve is purchasing, because the securities might benefit the most if macro optimism fades.

January’s excess return came in at a level well above the trailing average for the month, thanks in large part to a helpful hand from the Federal Reserve.

Federal Reserve officials left their benchmark interest rate unchanged near zero as they flagged a moderating U.S. recovery and reiterated a pledge to use all available tools to support the economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

Federal Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard said regulators are seeking to "understand the potential benefits and risks" from utilizing artificial intelligence in the financial services sector.

Public agencies led by the Federal Reserve often stretch the definition of “necessary and proper” to the breaking point when seeking to fulfill public mandates, columnist Chris Whalen argues.

The Federal Reserve is credited with containing damage to the financial system from the coronavirus pandemic, but experts say the limits of the central bank’s power to prop up the economy will likely become more apparent in the new year.

The Federal Reserve has already agreed to shut down emergency credit programs funded by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, but Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and others want Congress to ensure the central bank cannot revive them.

There are people creating a lot of unrealistic scenarios about market risk.

Set alight by the Fed’s low interest rates and bond purchases, the mortgage industry is on fire.

Tuesday's hearing on the CARES Act was dominated by bickering over Treasury's decision to shut down the Fed's emergency lending facilities, drowning out pleas from some lawmakers for more aid.

The OCC, Federal Reserve and FDIC said that a failure to adequately prepare for the transition away from Libor could undermine banks' safety and soundness, but also extended the sunset date for many iterations of the interest rate benchmark to July 2023.

Mortgage rates remained unchanged at their record lows heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, as investors reacted to a growing resurgence in coronavirus cases.

The Trump administration has compelled the Federal Reserve to shut down the Main Street Lending Program and other facilities that aid banks’ pandemic relief efforts, but President-elect Biden’s Treasury nominee could help turn the spigot back on.

U.S. government debt just logged its best week since August after the Treasury demanded the Fed return unused funds from emergency lending programs, a request the central bank said late Friday it would comply with. The development bolstered Wall Street predictions that the Fed will unveil more monetary action when it meets in mid-December.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called on the Federal Reserve Thursday to let several of its emergency lending facilities expire at yearend and return unused funds provided by Congress. But the central bank wants the programs to continue.

The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility was brought back to inject $100 billion into the pandemic-battered economy, but only a fraction has been disbursed. Yet experts, pointing to its calming effects on markets, recommend that it be extended into next year.