zaterdag 12 juli 2008

Het Neoliberale Geloof 118


Denk aan Pserimos:
'Grootste hypotheekverstrekker VS valt om
ANPgepubliceerd op 12 juli 2008 09:26, bijgewerkt op 12 juli 2008 09:55
WASHINGTON/PASADENA - De Amerikaanse hypotheekverstrekker en bank IndyMac Bank is vrijdag overgenomen door de overheid. Het federale Bureau Toezicht Spaarbanken (OTS) greep in omdat rekeninghouders hun tegoeden massaal begonnen op te eisen uit vrees voor een faillissement.
IndyMac is de grootste spaar- en hypotheekbank van de VS en de op één na grootste financiële instelling die er ineenstort, na de ondergang van de Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company in 1984.
Vijfde faillissementDe hypotheekverstrekker uit Pasadena (Californië) is voorts de vijfde financiële instelling die dit jaar in de Verenigde Staten bezwijkt als gevolg van de kredietcrisis en de ingezakte huizenmarkt.'
Lees verder: http://www.volkskrant.nl/economie/article1042420.ece/
Grootste_hypotheekverstrekker_VS_valt_om


'The $5 trillion mess
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created by Congress to help more Americans buy homes. Now their shaky condition threatens the entire housing market.
By Katie Benner, writer
Last Updated: July 11, 2008: 10:51 AM EDT http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/11/news/economy/fannie_freddie.fortune/index.htm

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- They own or guarantee $5 trillion worth of mortgages­ - nearly half of all the country's outstanding home loan debt - and they're crashing. Big time.

If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go under, it will wreak yet more havoc on an already wrecked housing market - making loans tougher to come by and possibly pushing hundreds of billions of dollars in cost on to U.S. taxpayers.

How could such a disaster have come to pass?

The two companies are so-called government-sponsored enterprises, created by Congress in 1938 (Fannie) and 1970 (Freddie) to help more Americans buy houses.

The companies' mandate is to maintain a market for mortgages - buying loans from banks, repackaging them as bonds, and selling those securities to investors with a guarantee that they will be paid. This makes lending more tempting for banks because Fannie and Freddie take on risks like missed payments, defaults and swings in interest rates.

But the companies are also publicly traded and try to maximize profits for shareholders.

As quasi-government programs, they've long carried an implicit guarantee that the feds wouldn't let them fail.

Their hybrid nature created both the opportunity and the temptation for the enterprises to take on more risk and to make themselves ever larger, more important and thus more profitable players in the mortgage market.
Very special treatment'

En:
'The Fannie and Freddie doomsday scenario It's time to wonder what would happen if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed.
By Katie Benner, writer-reporter
Last Updated: July 11, 2008: 12:46 PM EDT
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/09/news/companies/benner_fanniefreddie.fortune/
index.htm?postversion=2008071108

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Here's a scary, and relevant, question to ponder as the housing market continues to slide: What would it take for the government to step in and help Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and how would a rescue affect you, the taxpayer?

It's been a brutal week for Freddie (FRE, Fortune 500) and Fannie (FNM, Fortune 500). A Lehman analyst report Monday kicked off a stock rout that had shares in the mortgage finance giants hitting fresh multi-year lows Thursday. Freddie plummeted 22% Thursday, to $8.00 a share; Fannie was down nearly 14%, to $13.20.

The beating is expected to continue Friday. Freddie shares were down 38% and Fannie was off nearly 50% in premarket trading.

The stock plunge, together with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's downbeat housing outlook on Tuesday, is forcing investors to consider what would happen if a bailout is needed - a prospect raised Thursday when William Poole, the former president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, told Bloomberg the companies are already "insolvent."

Also on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that officials at the U.S. Treasury Department have been monitoring the companies for months as part of its normal contingency planning, but that discussions about what to do should they collapse have picked up in recent weeks.

A grim outlook'
En:

'Feeling Fannie's and Freddie's pain
The tumbling stock prices for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac threaten the chances for a housing recovery and economic comeback.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/08/news/economy/fannie_freddie/
index.htm?postversion=2008070816
By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer Last Updated: July 8, 2008: 4:49 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The plunging stock prices of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could make the recovery for the housing market and the overall economy much more difficult, analysts say.

Fannie and Freddie, which were set up by the federal government, play a crucial role in the credit markets. They buy large pools of mortgage loans made by banks and other lenders, attach a guarantee that the loans will be repaid and then sell securities backed by the future payments on those mortgages.

"The housing market can not recover unless Fannie and Freddie are out there actively securitizing home mortgages," said Jaret Seiberg, financial services analyst for research firm Stanford Group.

Shares of the two companies plunged Monday after a note from Lehman Brothers suggested that Fannie and Freddie might be forced to raise a combined $75 billion due to a pending change in accounting rules.

Spokespeople from Fannie (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie (FRE, Fortune 500) had no comment about their stock prices or the Lehman report.

Seiberg said the two companies don't need new capital right now to keep buying mortgages. But with both companies expected to report losses this year, they may need more capital down the road.

"They anticipate suffering more losses in the future and capital is one of your cushions against those losses," Seiberg said.

But with shares of Fannie and Freddie each plunging about 60% so far this year, finding investors willing to invest additional capital in the firms will be both problematic and expensive.

If Fannie and Freddie were suddenly unable to buy and back loans, banks would have their primary source of funding for making home loans choked off.

That would severely restrict the pool of potential home buyers, causing home price declines to accelerate from the record drop seen in the last year. That would make it tougher for the economy to rebound anytime soon.

Risk of a credit market meltdown'

En:
'Fannie and Freddie in danger
Continued sharp slide in shares of mortgage finance firms raises new concerns about need for new capital, threat of government takeover.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/11/news/companies/
fannie_freddie_shares/index.htm
By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer Last Updated: July 11, 2008: 12:14 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The anxiety over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, crucial to a recovery of the battered housing market and the economy as a whole, reached fever pitch on Friday as shares plunged on speculation of a looming bailout.

Immediately after the markets opened, shares of Fannie (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie (FRE, Fortune 500) fell more than 47% from their already battered closing price the day before. They soon rebounded later in the morning but Fannie shares were still down 22% and Freddie shares were off 20% in midday trading.

The problems for Freddie and Fannie also weighed on broader markets, causing a sell-off in U.S. stocks, especially hitting major banks, Wall Street firms and home builders.

Fannie and Freddie hold or back $5 trillion between them, or about half the mortgage debt in the country.

They play a central role in the U.S. housing market, providing a crucial source of funding for banks and other home lenders, especially since a credit market crisis last summer left them the only major players in packaging pools of mortgage loans into securities for sale to investors.

If they were unable to do so, it would significantly raise the cost and restrict the availability of mortgage loans, causing significantly more problems for already battered housing prices and sales. That in turn would be another significant problem for the overall U.S. economy, as well as global credit markets.

The New York Times reported Friday that senior Bush administration officials are considering a plan to have the government take over one or both of the companies if their problems worsen.

The shares started to erase early losses when word came that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was set to speak. He said that the government's primary focus is making sure that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain as presently constituted to carry out their mission.'

1 opmerking:

Sonja zei

Correspondent Diederik van Hoogstraten spreekt in de Volkskrant van "Het crisisgevoel op de financiële markten in de VS". We hebben volgens hem dus te maken met een emotie, niet met een echte crisis.
Zolang er door journalisten wordt geschreven over "verontrusting","angst", "paniek" e.d. op 'de financiële markt' krijgen we nooit te lezen hoe de zaken er werkelijk voorstaan, met de harde feiten.

Peter Flik en Chuck Berry-Promised Land

mijn unieke collega Peter Flik, die de vrijzinnig protestantse radio omroep de VPRO maakte is niet meer. ik koester duizenden herinneringen ...