Par sar is about to flip too. Maybe tomorrow.

A.M.

Great question. We'll have to see.

Bill Ackman on CNBC tomorrow at 7:30et. Let's see what he hast to say about FnF.

I'm not seeing anything on http://www.plainsite.org/dockets/index.html?id=2502619 saying there's not going to be a hearing? Has anyone called the court?

If we break the upper BB of $4.26, we will get there in no time.

I'm seeing a lot of buyers trying to get in with orders over the ask.

FMCC is showing $4 on my L2.

Etrade told me 100 at $7.

I called Etrade and they said it was more than likely going to be cancelled. It was for 100 shares above the NBNO. He mentioned the bid was above the ask at the time of the trade 3.64 x 3.45 I believe.

Put me down for silver. Holding since last April.

IMO he's not wasting his time reporting this.

I wonder why the question didn't come up? Is it possible it was off limits? I'm sure the question was submitted by viewers.

Pharaoh, I've always interpreted it as saying you have a day trading account and hold overnight. If you sell on a run up and it runs even further the same day, you do not have funds to repurchase unless you trade on overnight margin which is extremely risky. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Who pissed in your Cheerios? It was an article about WB looking to make a large investment in America, and what's more American than home ownership? Is reading that challenging for you?

Upbeat Buffett eyes big acquisitions after record Berkshire profit

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-berkshire-results-20140301,0,7548264.story

Luciana Lopez and Jonathan Stempel
Reuters
9:30 a.m. CST, March 1, 2014


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett on Saturday signaled he plans to make more large acquisitions for Berkshire Hathaway Inc to expand his conglomerate, which posted a record profit in 2013 with the help of a recovering U.S. economy.

"America's best days lie ahead," Buffett, 83, said in his annual letter to Berkshire shareholders.

"Charlie and I have always considered a 'bet' on ever-rising U.S. prosperity to be very close to a sure thing," he added, referring to his 90-year-old vice chairman Charlie Munger. "Though we invest abroad as well, the mother lode of opportunity resides in America."

The annual letter is widely read not just by Berkshire shareholders, but by investors and others looking for wisdom and guidance from the so-called Oracle of Omaha, the world's fourth-richest person.

Buffett has run Berkshire since 1965, and the Omaha, Nebraska-based company now has more than 80 businesses in such areas as insurance, railroads, utilities and ice cream. It also owns about $115.5 billion of stocks.

Buffett again signaled that he has no plans to leave his company soon, telling shareholders he intends in next year's letter to review his first 50 years at Berkshire, and what the future may bring.

RECORD PROFIT

Full-year profit rose 31 percent to $19.48 billion, or $11,850 per Class A share, while operating profit rose 20 percent to $15.14 billion, or $9,211 per share.

For the fourth quarter, net profit rose nearly 10 percent to $4.99 billion, or $3,035 per share, and operating profit rose 34 percent to $3.78 billion, or $2,297 per share.

Berkshire's book value per share, a measure of net worth, grew 18.2 percent after taxes in 2013 to $134,973.

Despite that, the 2009-to-2013 period marked the first time since Buffett took over Berkshire that book value per share rose more slowly over five years than the Standard & Poor's 500 including dividends on a pre-tax basis.

Berkshire's per share net worth was up about 91 percent during that period, while the index gained about 128 percent.

Net worth per share has nonetheless grown at 19.7 percent annual clip under Buffett since 1965, when it was a mere $19. The S&P 500 annual growth rate was just 9.8 percent.

Buffett said he remains on the prowl for more big acquisitions, which he calls "elephants," after two recent big purchases: a $5.6 billion acquisition of Nevada utility NV Energy by Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy unit, and a $12.25 billion investment in ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co.

He said future purchases could follow the "partnership" structure he used when teaming up with Brazil's 3G Capital to buy Heinz. Buffett also said Berkshire's 50 percent Heinz stake could grow if 3G investors decide to sell their shares to him.

Berkshire ended last year with $48.19 billion of cash and equivalents, giving Buffett the freedom to make big acquisitions and retain a $20 billion cushion.

While Berkshire is known for its insurance businesses, Buffett has been acquiring businesses in other, sometimes boring sectors that are capable of steadily boosting revenue.

He said profit from a "Powerhouse Five" of large non-insurance unit -- the BNSF railway, Iscar for metalworking, Lubrizol for chemicals, Marmon for industrial products, and MidAmerican Energy -- might boost pre-tax profit in 2014 by $1 billion from the $10.8 billion they collected in 2013.

BUFFETT GETS BEATEN

Buffett also heaped praise on portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who help choose stocks for Berkshire and now each invest more than $7 billion.

"I must again confess that their investments outperformed mine. (Charlie says I should add 'by a lot.')," Buffett said, referring again to Munger. "Their contributions are just beginning: Both men have Berkshire blood in their veins."

Berkshire's succession plan calls for Buffett's responsibilities to be split in three after he leaves. Buffett's son Howard would become non-executive chairman, and others would serve as chief executive officer and chief investment officer.

Buffett has not said who the candidates for the CEO position are, except that they all work at Berkshire and are men.

In the letter, Buffett again praised the work of insurance executive Ajit Jain, who he called an "idea factory," and called MidAmerican Chief Executive Greg Abel and BNSF Chairman Matthew Rose, as well as new BNSF CEO Carl Ice, "extraordinary managers."

He also said Tad Montross, the head of the General Re reinsurance unit, has turned a business that Buffett once thought he had made a "huge mistake" in buying into a "gem."

Berkshire's Class A shares closed at $173,708 on Friday, and its Class B shares closed at $115.78. The A shares have fallen 2.4 percent this year.

(Reporting by Luciana Lopez and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Sophie Hares, Jennifer Ablan and Marguerita Choy)

They make their own charts.

If anyone still had doubts this morning of it moving sideways, I hope today's action will convince you otherwise.

"Is she simply referring to the shareholder style model of the current system, or is she speaking more specifically about excessive executive compensation? We will soon find out... "

Looking at her past, she seems to favor shareholder controlled compensation for executives.

http://www.ontheissues.org/CA/Maxine_Waters_Corporations.htm

http://www.ontheissues.org/HouseVote/Party_2009-H686.htm

http://www.ontheissues.org/HouseVote/Party_2007-244.htm

"After the deadline for publication passed on Friday, a second spokesman for the Treasury Department, Anthony Coley, released the following statement: “The relevant language in the memo was about the importance of repaying taxpayers for the enormous investment that they made in the G.S.E.’s if the G.S.E.’s ever generated positive returns, which, at the time, was uncertain to ever occur.”

If they did not believe that the GSE's would return the taxpayer money, why didn't they put them into receivership and liquidate them? IMO they are not giving the true meaning of the memo.

That ATDF wall finally came down.

So how is the government protecting the taxpayer through the PSPA if the taxpayer will never be paid back?

$3.25 by Friday based on this chart imo.

GREEN

Mr Lockhart-"No taxpayer dollars are invested in Fannie and Freddie"

FHFA to Delay Increase in Mortgage Fees By Fannie, Freddie
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304367204579271113932846576

Very good news! Watt challenging Demarco's conservatorship from the start.

Massive run is setting up.

Bollinger Band Breakout possible tomorrow.

Looks like ATDF got their shares.

ATDF wants your shares and will do everything they can to get them by the current price action.

$2.76 just got ask slapped.

I just saw another one go through for 106382 at the ask.

Jim Millstein on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/jim-millstein-on-fannie-mae-freddie-mac-2VsoOkALQsGHANjYyzS2LQ.html?cmpid=yhoo

Jim states he sold his shares in FMNAS so he could have a bigger voice on reform. He does not think Ackman and Berkowitz's investments is not worth wile like other media outlets have claimed.

FHFA Says Significant Progress Made toward Strategic GSE Goals

Demarco mentions post-cship and is relying on lawmakers to decide on the future.

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/11262013_fhfa_strategic_plan.asp

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently released its 2013 Conservatorship Scorecard detailing the progress made by the government sponsored agencies (GSEs) Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in meeting the strategic goals set for them so far this year under FHFA's 2012 Strategic Plan. The plan sets forth three principal goals for the current phase of the GSE conservatorship:

1. Build a new infrastructure for the secondary mortgage market;

2. Gradually contract the Enterprises' dominant presence in the marketplace while simplifying and shrinking their operations; and

3. Maintain foreclosure prevention activities and credit availability for new and refinanced mortgages.

Reduction of the governments risk in the single-family mortgage credit market requires giving investors greater certainty and confidence in the rules, policies, data, and disclosures used in mortgage securitization. In order to build a new infrastructure for single-family mortgage securitization the GSEs need to develop a model Contractual and Disclosure Framework (CDF) that will help foster that certainty and confidence.

The GSEs made significant progress toward achieving interim goals in developing that framework. A joint GSE team has analyzed and compared certain policies and practices relating to fully guaranteed mortgage-backed securities (MBS) while noting comparable practices in the private-label market. By year-end 2013 the team will recommend ways to align the GSEs' policies and practices in each area. The team has focused on identifying best practices for non-guaranteed MBS, including those partially guaranteed by the GSEs and has begun a review and analysis of differences in the GSEs' Master Trust Agreements.

The second major element of the new infrastructure for single-family mortgage securitization being developed is the Common Securitization Platform (CSP) which will consist of integrated hardware architecture and software applications that the GSEs and eventually other, fully private firms will be able to use to perform major aspects of the securitization process.

FHFA and the GSEs have made significant progress toward achieving each of these goals. Achievement of the longer-term objectives of the CSP remains a significant undertaking, as implementation of the platform encompasses both a complex technology project and significant changes in Enterprise business processes. Progress made by the GSEs and FHFA thus far include:

Formation of a GSE joint venture business entity, Common Securitization Solutions, LLC (CSS). CSS will own the CSP and related business and operational functions. An executive search for an independent Chairperson of the Board of Managers and Chief Executive Officer who will govern the corporation is well underway
Commercial office space has been leased for a period of three years for CSS in Bethesda, Maryland. Next year staff, provided up to now by the GSEs, will transition to being independent from them and will move into the new building.
FHFA and the Enterprises are also developing the key legal documents and business infrastructure for the CSS covering items such as capital contributions by the GSEs, allocations of profits and losses, the structure of the Board of Managers, voting rights, identification of "significant matters" requiring super-majority voting, and the handling of intellectual property rights.
The team building the platform has made significant progress on developing the design, scope, and functional requirements for the five CSP's modules which will perform the data validation, security issuance, disclosure, master servicing, and bond administration functions as well as transactional data stores, an integrated data store, and other components. To date, the team has achieved a number of milestones in the development and testing of the platform, all in a non-production environment.
In addition to the continued work on the platform's core processing software, the CSP team and Enterprise staff have been working on other critical business operations including the development of detailed diagrams of business processes and data flows and the testing of completed software.
Under the Uniform Mortgage Data Program (UMDP) the GSEs are collaborating with industry to develop uniform data standards for single-family mortgages. Data standardization will allow all types of lenders to participate in the secondary market and make it far easier and cheaper for them to acquire technology from third-party venders. The GSEs have implemented three key phases of UMDP, the Uniform Appraisal Dataset, the Uniform Collateral Data Portal, and the Uniform Loan Delivery Dataset. In September each GSE submitted white papers to FHFA that address strategies for data standardization, collection, and use under the three initiatives.

Each GSE has been working to develop and execute transactions that transfer single-family mortgage credit risk to private investors and each has executed multiple transactions totaling more than $40 billion after first issuing historical data on the credit performance of relevant mortgages. Freddie Mac has sold two offerings of a new debt security backed by reference pools of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and in October Fannie Mae a sold a similar type of debt security. In addition both GSEs have executed transactions to transfer credit risk on pools of mortgages to private insurance companies.

Under revisions made in 2012 to the Senior Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPAs) between the GSEs and Department of the Treasury the GSEs have had to accelerate the contraction of their retained mortgage portfolios. For 2013 the PSPA requires that each retained portfolio decline to $553 billion. As of the date of this Progress Report, each Enterprise's retained portfolio was less than that amount.

As a result of the reductions in the retained portfolios made pursuant to the PSPAs and GSE purchases of delinquent mortgages from pools backing guaranteed MBS, the portfolios are increasingly concentrated in less liquid assets. The 2013 Scorecard set a goal for each GSE to reduce these portions of the portfolio by 5 percent each year. As of the date of this progress report, each has achieved the 2013 scorecard objective, Fannie Mae by selling at least $21 billion and Freddie Mac by selling at least $15.7 billion of less liquid assets.

The 2013 Scorecard established the expectation that each GSE would reduce the unpaid principal balance of its new multifamily business by at least 10 percent relative to 2012 through various means such as tightening underwriting, adjusting pricing, or limiting product offerings, but could not increase the proportion of credit risk retained by the Enterprises. Each Enterprise has taken steps to meet this goal, and the market appears to have absorbed the changes in business volumes without major disruption.

Significant changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) in late 2011 led to a surge in program activity throughout 2012 that resulted in more than a million HARP refinances for that year, an amount equal to activity over the prior three years. As of August 2013, HARP refinances since program inception totaled more than 2.8 million. FHFA estimates that as many as 1 million more borrowers are HARP-eligible and is taking steps to reach those borrowers.

FHFA and the GSEs initiated the Servicing Alignment Initiative (SAI) in April 2011. It established consistent mortgage loan servicing and delinquency management requirements across the two GSEs including policies related to borrower contact, delinquency management, loan modifications, servicer incentives, and compensatory fees. In 2013, FHFA and the Enterprises announced additional enhancements to the program:

A Streamlined Modification initiative that initiative allows servicers to solicit certain eligible borrowers who are delinquent between 90 to 720 days with reduced documentation requirements.
Changes to the servicer incentives framework, eliminating the borrower response package incentives and related performance benchmarks and increasing the modification incentive structure under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) by $500.00.
Extension of HAMP programs to align with the Treasury so all eligible mortgages must have a Trial Period Plan with an effective date on or before March 2016. The Enterprises also extended the Streamlined Modification initiative to December 2015 to correspond to the HAMP sunset date.
Issuance of servicing requirements in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final rule relating to early intervention and communication with delinquent borrowers, alternatives to foreclosure and right of appeals, foreclosure referral and foreclosure suspension, and error resolution.
Achieving the objective of maintaining credit availability for new and refinanced mortgages requires a viable private mortgage insurance (MI) industry to provide credit enhancement for loans with loan-to-value ratios over 80 percent. The 2013 Scorecard established the expectation that the GSEs would update and align counterparty risk management standards for mortgage insurers, including uniform master policies and aligned eligibility requirements.

FHFA and the GSEs have made considerable progress toward developing the new MI master policies and eligibility requirements. The joint team has worked through a master policy for each MI and anticipates approving by the end of 2013 the submission of the master policies to state insurance regulators for approval. The new master policies are scheduled to take effect in mid-2014. FHFA expects to solicit public feedback on proposed new MI eligibility requirements by the end of 2013.

The 2013 Scorecard required each GSE complete its review of pre-conservatorship loan acquisitions and complete demands for repurchase or restitution for breaches of representations and warranties. Using two methods, expanding existing capacities to conduct loan-by-loan file reviews and pursuing global settlements, the GSEs have resolved disputes with 10 lending institutions and has recovered more than $18 billion in lender payments so far this year.

"These accomplishments represent important steps that are helping to bring stability and liquidity to the housing market while also laying the foundation for a future, post- conservatorship housing finance system," said FHFA Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco. "Much more remains to be done and our work will continue while lawmakers decide a future course."

Investors Rally to Fannie Mae First Risk-Share Transaction

http://www.housingindustryforum.com/content/investors-rally-fannie-mae-first-risk-share-transaction

Fannie Mae’s inaugural risk sharing transaction attracted strong demand from about 75 broadly diversified investors this month, allowing the company to set better pricing levels on the deal than originally anticipated.

The $675 million offering, the first in Fannie Mae’s Connecticut Avenue Securities series (C-deals), provides investors with a first-ever opportunity to purchase a slice of risk from the company’s high quality book of business, which reflects the strong underwriting standards of recent years.

This is the first in a series of planned C-deal offerings aimed to help reduce taxpayer risk and attract private capital to the housing market. Unlike other Fannie Mae securities and debt issuances, C-deals allow Fannie Mae to transfer some of the credit risk it retains on fully guaranteed single-family mortgage-backed securities (MBS).

Freddie Mac took a similar step in July when it issued a $500 million debt offering.

Fannie Mae offered two notes, a senior mezzanine note (the M-1 tranche) and a junior mezzanine note (the M-2 tranche), each totaling $337.5 million. The Fitch credit rating agency provided a BBB-minus rating on the M-1 tranche, which priced at one-month LIBOR plus a spread of 200 basis points. Pricing for the unrated M-2 tranche was one month LIBOR plus a spread of 525 basis points. In order to share risk with C-deal investors, Fannie Mae retained the first loss and senior piece of the structure, as well as a vertical slice of the M1 and M2 tranches.

The deal closed on Oct. 24.

No loans will change hands as part of the Fannie Mae transaction. Instead, the securities are linked to a reference pool of $27 billion in mortgages that Fannie Mae purchased and securitized during Q3 2012. Repayment of the principal on the C-deal is tied to the performance of the reference pool.

This approach is crucial so the transfer of risk does not disrupt the TBA (To Be Announced) market, according to Laurel Davis, Vice President for Credit Risk Transfer at Fannie Mae.

As the single largest investor in mortgage credit risk (Fannie Mae reported a single-family guaranty book of business of $2.84 trillion as of June 30, 2013, in its second quarter 2013 results), the company plays a central role in the mortgage market. The liquidity provided through Fannie Mae mortgage backed securities (MBS) is critically important to a functioning market, Davis explained, allowing borrowers to lock in rates 30 or 60 days in advance and lenders to hedge their mortgage pipelines by delivering loans into MBS.

In another first for Fannie Mae, executives embarked on more than two weeks of cross-country meetings with investors to introduce the securities and discuss in detail how the company manages credit risk.

“Because we’ve always held the credit risk in the past, we’ve never really had to tell our story of how we manage that risk,” Davis noted. “Now we have an opportunity for transparency, not just on sharing credit risk, but also to educate the market on the performance of our loans. We are sharing performance history on 19 million loans, an unprecedented step to help develop an investor base that is eager to invest in Fannie Mae loan risk.”

Fannie Mae’s historical loan performance data on a portion of its single-family mortgage loans is available on fanniemae.com.

In a separate risk sharing transaction, Fannie Mae finalized an agreement with National Mortgage Insurance Corp. to provide credit risk coverage on over $5 billion in single-family mortgages, effective September 1, 2013. The policy covers certain loans acquired by Fannie Mae in the fourth quarter of 2012, each of which had an original LTV ratio between 70 and 80 percent. The transaction reduces Fannie Mae’s exposure on these loans to approximately 50 percent LTV, subject to an aggregate pool deductible and loss limit.

These two forms of risk transfer transactions advance the Conservatorship scorecard for 2013, which asks Fannie Mae to transfer credit risk on at least $30 billion in single-family loans.

Fannie Mae launched new web pages in October to provide additional transparency to the market about its credit risk sharing activities. You can read more about Connecticut Avenue Securities and Mortgage Insurance risk sharing on these sites.