Interest rates

Private mortgage insurers are better positioned to weather a flatter or even inverted yield curve than other financials from an investment perspective, a report from FBR Capital Markets said.

Federal Reserve officials meeting earlier this month saw an interest-rate increase in the near term even as divisions persisted over the policy path forward amid tepid inflation.

Capital One Financial will stop originating mortgage and home-equity loans after competition made it difficult for the businesses to be profitable.

Fannie Mae used last year's Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data to increase its origination projections for both 2017 and 2018 even as its overall economic outlook remained unchanged from September.

The Pittsburgh company benefited from loan growth and higher interest rates, though fee income fell and expense rose in the third quarter.

A slight decline in core deposits in the second quarter stoked worries that tighter liquidity is around the corner. Bankers are exploring responses beyond the typical CD rate special if third-quarter results show the trend is continuing.

A Fed committee studying Libor’s replacement has dwelled heavily on the potential impact to the derivatives market. Loans may become a bigger part of the conversation later this year, but the panel plans to leave a lot of the specifics up to lenders.

Federal Reserve officials said they would begin running off their $4.5 trillion balance sheet “relatively soon” and left their benchmark policy rate unchanged as they assess progress toward their inflation goal.

Defaults on first-lien mortgages fell 5 basis points in May from the previous month, dropping to their lowest level in a year, according to the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Index.

The expansion of the Federal Reserve’s portfolio of Treasury debt and mortgage-backed securities has a bigger impact on the credit markets than paying banks interest on excess reserves.