Daily Commentary by Larry Baer: The mortgage market is drifting listlessly this
morning with investors choosing to take a cautious stance in front of Friday's
March nonfarm payroll report and next week's three-part Treasury debt auction
featuring 3- and 10-year notes and 30-year bonds.
As expected, today's
February Factory Orders report drew nothing more than a passing glance from
mortgage investors. The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured
goods climbed 3.0% in February - driven almost exclusively by a 95.1% surge in
civilian aircraft demand. Gains in new orders were modest when volatile
categories like transportation are stripped out. Orders excluding
transportation equipment increased a very modest 0.3%.
For what it is worth
- Fannie Mae announced earlier today it posted a $17.2 billion annual profit
for 2012, its largest ever yearly gain and its first profit in six years.
To put Fannie Mae's 2012 financial performance in a little sharper perspective
- the company posted a year-earlier loss of $16.9 billion. In case
you are wondering, last month Freddie Mac posted an $11 billion record profit
for 2012.
Fannie Mae has now
paid back about $35.6 billion in dividends to the Treasury against the $116
billion it borrowed from the American taxpayers. For its part Freddie Mac
has paid back $23.8 billion of the $71.3 billion it borrowed from the
government to stay afloat.
As a reader of this
commentary you no doubt played at least a small part in the success these two
entities achieved last year - and so to each of you on behalf of all taxpayers
I say - congratulations on a job well done - keep up the good work.
THE
MARKET IS ALWAYS RIGHT! . YOU AND I ARE SOME OF THE TIME
