Secondary markets

M&T Bank remains comfortable with its decision to acquire Hudson City Bancorp even though a recent rise in mortgage rates could crimp Hudson City's profits.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank’s asset purchases “are by no means on a preset course” as he sought to tamp down an increase in borrowing costs that threatens to slow the economic expansion.

Sen. Mark Warner said a Bipartisan Policy Center paper on GSE reform “influenced a lot of our thinking.”

Housing bonds turned a hefty 80% gain for the first half even as the entire municipal bond market was showing a 12% decline.

Freddie Mac plans to sell $400 million of a new type of debt tied to the risk that homeowners will fail to repay mortgages.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is proposing fixes for the housing market that regulators can make now, without waiting on lawmakers to overhaul Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Opus Bank, Irvine, Calif., has realigned its operations to create a Commercial Real Estate Banking division.

History shows that a rapid rise in interest rates tends to have little correlation with home prices, according to a Fannie Mae researcher.

The refinancing share of applications for the second quarter was pegged at 75%, up from 70% in June’s forecast.

USSCO Johnstown has developed a marketing agreement with Unifirst Mortgage Corp. it says will enable members to avoid the upfront fee other mortgage providers typically charge.

Credit unions are selling increasing amounts of their record mortgage loans on the secondary market, almost all of them to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A portion of the portfolio consists of about $1.96 billion of nonperforming assets.

New Basel III provisions could impact a significant percentage of warehouse lenders.

A federal court dismissed a suit brought by NCUA against Barclays Capital for the sale of $555 million of faulty mortgage-backed securities to U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp FCU.

Since May 1 rates have been rising, but one economist is advising credit unions not to be fooled into inaction against interest rate risk.

The worst first half for Treasuries in four years has wrung the unprecedented Federal Reserve stimulus out of bond prices as investors now look to low inflation and slow economic growth to contain yields.

Positive forecasts on 10-year-guaranteed agency commercial mortgage-backed securities do not change analysts’ expectations to see sluggish CRE loan growth.

Roger Cozzi, who joined AllianceBernstein this year, will lead the fund and AllianceBernstein's newly formed CRE debt group.

Barclays is expanding its West Coast staff that handles commercial mortgage-backed securities.

Wells Fargo is predicting a sharp decline in mortgage originations this quarter, but CEO John Stumpf is hardly worried.