Washington Post article
All GSEs shares (Preferred and Commons ) will be 50-70% down tomorrow January 21, 2025.
New Treasury Secretary spoke about them
Ending government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not likely soon
Andrew Ackerman
Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for treasury secretary, at his confirmation hearing on Thursday. (Tom Brenner/for The Washington Post)
For investors betting that Donald Trump’s return to the White House will mean a resumed push to return mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to private hands, don’t get your hopes up: Scott Bessent, Trump’s pick for treasury secretary, suggested this week that he has bigger fish to fry.
Bessent, in a one-on-one meeting with a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said ending Fannie and Freddie’s 17 years under government control is not a priority, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the meeting.
A spokeswoman for Bessent didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In a confirmation hearing on Thursday, the hedge-fund executive didn’t discuss Fannie and Freddie but signaled he would have more pressing issues on his plate, such as extending expiring tax cuts and imposing tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
Fannie and Freddie don’t make mortgage loans directly, but rather buy them from lenders and package them into securities that investors buy and trade. Together, the companies guarantee about half of existing home loans. Their fate is important because they help determine who gets access to mortgage credit and on what terms.
The government stepped in to take over the firms in 2008 through a process known as conservatorship. Repeated efforts to wind down the companies or return them to private hands have failed.
Investors betting Trump would make the issue a priority again — officials tried to end the conservatorships during his first term — have driven a surge in trading for the companies’ shares since the November election.
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