Economic doldrums? Probably not – but there is always someone out there claiming dire straits are right around the corner. A CNBC survey of Wall Street experts finds over 96% do not anticipate a recession by summer 2020, 70% are optimistic about the economy, and 30% have a neutral outlook. Fitch Ratings said there are no signs of recession currently but noted that global growth was sharply deteriorating. Fitch sees relatively strong US GDP growth as a positive and expects China will start stabilizing soon. And a survey of economists by the Wall Street Journal found that 57% thought the next rate increase by the Fed wouldn’t happen until September or later. This number is up from 35% in the February survey and 13% in the January survey. Overall, 18% of economists believe the Fed will not raise rates any more this year and that its next move will be to cut rates. This is up from 10% in February and 4% in January.

Lender Products and Services

Non-QM has arrived and is now spreading to virtually every lender and broker in the country, and originators are asking, how do I go about sourcing these clients in this high growth marketplace? Well, Deephaven is here to help! Deephaven Mortgage, a leader in the Non-QM market, and one of the first – established in 2012 – continues to shine the light on Non-QM through its products, processes, and innovative technology, and through education and ideas on how to source clients and build a Non-QM business. To find out more about how Non-QM can help you grow your business, please Deephaven’s wholesale or Deephaven’s correspondent group.

Is your call center consistently delivering high quality customer interactions? Sourcepoint, formerly ISGN Solutions, can streamline your call center operations to help you better manage changing call volumes and reduce costs. Sourcepoint’s next generation Contact Center and Collections services help loan servicers better communicate with customers, when and how they want, by voice, email, chat, social, text or survey. Its omnichannel contact center solution FirstCustomerIntelligence optimizes people, processes and operations by pairing customers with qualified agents and monitoring agent-customer conversations for constant improvement. Sourcepoint has also invested heavily in compliance and licensing to ensure your peace of mind. With centers across the U.S. and around the world, Sourcepoint offers the right languages, geographies and time zones to help drive the best customer satisfaction and return on investment. So, if you want to scale in sync with fluctuating call volumes, improve agent productivity and debt recovery, and ensure compliance, consider Sourcepoint.

Stearns Wholesale announced the release of a powerful new feature in SNAP 2.0 that makes it possible for brokers to calculate borrowers’ income. Brokers simply input a few docs into the Calculate My Income Tool in SNAP 2.0, hit submit and Stearns notifies you when the income is processed in a short, easy to read, breakdown. Brokers can use this tool to help qualify more borrowers under Stearns’ vast array of product options.  For 30 years, Stearns has empowered their brokers with tools to help them work smarter, more efficiently and close more loans. Learn more about this tool by watching this quick video.

Sierra Pacific Mortgage is hosting a free Market Power webinar on Sierra Elite. This jumbo product is so hot and can help you grow your business. Register for Thursday, April 25 at 1:00 pm PDT. You will learn about some of the amazing features of this program and how it can help your next borrower purchase up to $3.0 million or one who needs a cash-out loan up to $2.0 million. This is the loan program for them, including self-employed borrowers. Register now.

Simplify your underwriting process with Loan Product Advisor® asset and income modeler (AIM). Through the expertise of third-party service providers, AIM automates the manual processes of assessing borrower assets and income. AIM reduces the burden of traditional documentation, speeds up the loan origination process and helps you close loans faster. Freddie Mac is working hard to bring you solutions that create efficiencies for your business and improve the borrower experience – giving you a competitive edge. These capabilities are available now. Gain greater efficiency in your underwriting processes with AIM – get The Freddie EdgeSM.

Hey Loan Officer! Don’t you wish you could have an underwriter on speed dial to answer all of your loan application questions on the spot, 24/7? What if your underwriter could be shrunk to fit in your pocket for when you need him? What if I told you that is possible? Well, not literally… we are not into shrinking people. We are into creating software that provides loan officers with underwriting knowledge at the tip of their fingers. The Rule Tool was made to make your job easier by providing agency guidelines that have been transcribed into easy to understand terms. Just select the agency you need, type in a keyword, and The Rule Tool will give you the rule, tips and more! It’s also updated daily by our underwriting experts. No more wasting time searching for answers. Get answers quick so you can get loans approved! Sign up now!

Capital Markets

Remember Quantitative Easing, in its various forms? At its peak the Fed had added $1.8 trillion to its balance sheet. The Fed’s quantitative easing stimulus efforts employed to support the economy, in which the Fed stated it would continue to support the economy by increasing its purchase activity of fixed-income securities per month, split between MBS and US Treasuries caused MBS prices to rally, sending mortgage rates lower and lower.

Those new highs in MBS prices meant that investors were taking on more and more premium risk. Because of the additional prepayment risk, as rates drifted lower, investors were willing to pay more for “call protection,” i.e., loans that don’t pay off early. Many investors prefer to hedge their specified pools with To Be Announced (TBA) securities, so as long as the interest they earn on the long (specified) position is greater than the cost of maintaining the short (TBA) position, it is in their favor to continue to do so.

But now the balance sheet is being allowed to run off, up to $50 billion per month. As the Fed slows and ultimately ends quantitative easing, investors could see the potential for lower dollar prices and higher mortgage rates, unless demand can be found from another source. This will diminish the need for prepayment protection, putting further pressure on call-protected specified pools.

Capital markets folks know that for over 8 years the Fed has been the “trash heap” of the mortgage market: the worst of the worst pools were delivered to them. This means high WAC (weighted average coupons), fast paying, poorly serviced pools ended up on their balance sheet. Fortunately this isn’t a huge issue as it greatly improved liquidity the mortgage market, which helped to elevate rolls. Now that they are no longer the buyer, anything that is in existence currently in the market, or that will be created in the future, will have to go somewhere else, creating less demand for the roll and increasing the demand for high quality pools.

Into the end of 2018 we saw this come to fruition, where rolls faded across almost all coupons and good clean bonds evaporated of the street. While some of this had to do with year-end constraints of dealer balance sheets, one would expect this trend to continue. As a caveat, even if the Fed were to change their stance on balance sheet normalization, there is chatter that this would likely be in the form of purchasing Treasuries rather than mortgages like they had in the past.

Looking at yesterday’s bond market, U.S. Treasuries spent yesterday surrendering their slim gains from Monday, including the 10-year closing at 2.59% despite the release of a worse than expected Industrial Production report for March showed continued weakness in manufacturing output and markets received better than expected economic sentiment readings in Germany and the euro zone. Separately, the People’s Bank of China injected liquidity on Tuesday, representing the first open market operation in 19 sessions. And in news of interest to the mortgage market, homebuilder sentiment rose to a six-month high but is still down versus a year ago as home builders navigate a shortage of construction workers and buildable lots putting upward pressure on housing costs and affordability. Finally, a “significant minority” of ECB policymakers at the last ECB meeting expressed doubt about the likelihood of a rebound in economic activity during the second half of the year.

Today’s domestic calendar kicked off with mortgage applications for the week ending April 12 (headline -3.5%, but purchases hit their highest level in 9 years!). Next up will be international trade for February with the deficit expected to widen, followed by wholesale trade for February. At 2pm, the Fed releases the Beige Book in preparation for the April 30-May 1 FOMC meeting. We also have three Fed speakers scheduled: Philadelphia’s Harker; St. Louis’ Bullard; and New York Fed SVP and Deputy SOMA Manager Logan. We begin today with agency MBS prices down a few ticks (32nds) versus last night’s close and the 10-year yielding 2.60%.

MA

Mergers and acquisitions continue, big and small, involving non-depositories, banks, credit unions and other financial institutions. Things picked up in 2018, and are expected to continue in 2019, for many reasons. Let’s see what’s going on.

In Mortgage Land, rumors were laid to rest yesterday when Home Point Financial Corp. announced the acquisition of the wholesale division of Platinum Mortgage Inc. This includes both Platinum’s sales team and its’ Madison, AL based operations group. “Platinum has built a strong wholesale lending footprint focused on the customer experience. We are excited about the opportunity to integrate the Platinum team into Home Point’s rapidly growing wholesale business.” said Willie Newman, Home Point Financial President and CEO. “Having been in business for over 20 years, I’ve always been committed to my broker clients. I decided to partner with Home Point, because they share the same level of commitment.” said Terry Clark, CEO of Platinum Mortgage. (The STRATMOR Group served as exclusive advisor to Platinum on the transaction, which closed on April 15th.)

Brokers were told that, “Platinum will continue to close out all your loans currently in the Platinum pipeline through May 31, 2019. April 15th was the last day to submit a new/unlocked loan to Platinum. Submit locked loans with Platinum until April 30. Lock all loans that are submitted but NOT locked till April 30. The last day to close a loan in Platinum pipeline will be May 31, 2019.”

Garth Graham, Senior Partner at the STRATMOR Group, observed, “The amazing part about this deal is that they bought the sales, and hired nearly all the people, including Ops. The staff in Alabama did a good job, at a low cost, and thus were very beneficial for the buyer. We helped Platinum with the process, and they had a number of options for sale, and picked Home Point because of the long-time commitment to the channel.”

Colony Bank will be acquiring Planters First Bank’s mortgage business. Jesse Kight, who is currently president of PFB Mortgage, will become SVP of Colony and president of its mortgage division, and Teresa Gainey will become group VP and director of mortgage operations for Colony. PFB Mortgage originated more than $100 million in mortgages last year,

In depository banking land, we had some announcements in recent weeks. FirstBank ($5.1B, TN) will record a $2.5mm restructuring and severance charge and sell its third-party wholesale mortgage origination business to Renasant Bank ($12.9B, MS). In Florida Power Financial CU ($655mm) will acquire TransCapital Bank ($204mm). Up in Illinois Midland States Bank ($5.6B) will acquire HomeStar Bank ($375mm) for about $9.9mm in stock (100%) or 0.95x tangible book. Glacier Bank ($12.1B, MT) will acquire Heritage Bank of Nevada ($830mm, NV) for about $240.7mm in cash (7%) and stock (93%) or 2.39x tangible book.

Article source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/04172019-quantitative-easing.aspx

Add Aaron Judge to the growing list of New York Yankees stars battling an injury.

The slugging outfielder was forced to leave Saturday’s game against the Kansas City Royals after suffering an oblique injury. Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters on Sunday that Judge suffered a “pretty significant strain.”

Judge suffered the injury on his sixth-inning single. He was clearly in pain as he ran down the first-base line.

He was immediately tended to by the Yankees athletic trainer and almost as quickly was removed from the game.

New York officially added Judge to the 10-day injury list ahead of Sunday’s finale against the Royals.

Earlier in the game, Judge slugged his fifth home run of the season.

The list of injured Yankees is extensive. The team is already without ace Luis Severino, reliever Dellin Betances and a whole lineup worth of key hitters. That includes Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sánchez, Miguel Andújar, Didi Gregorius, Greg Bird, Aaron Hicks and Troy Tulowitzki.

The good news is the Yankees are on track to get Sanchez back this week, but needless to say, they’ll will miss Judge for as long as he’s sidelined.

More from Yahoo Sports:

Yankees stopped playing Kate Smith’s ‘God Bless America’ after discovering her racist songs

Frustration with MLB umpires growing again after series of heated confrontations

David Price won’t visit the White House with the Red Sox because ‘it’s baseball season’

Article source: https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/04/21/key-yankees-player-out-indefinitely-with-painful-injury/23715102/

Over the years, there have been more times than I can count where the financial media has mistakenly assigned some significance to news or events in China.  The past week has had its moments in that regard, but this time around, the Chinese economy is undoubtedly in play as a market mover.  Either that, or it’s being used as cover for traders to strategically back-fill the post-Fed rally that begin on March 20th–something that was ultimately accomplished this morning.

Overnight economic data in China was this week’s focus in terms of potential market movers.  Chinese GDP came out at 6.4 vs 6.3 forecast (6.4 previously).  Industrial output rose by 8.5% versus a 5.9% forecast. And Retail Sales ticked up to 8.7% from 8.2%.  All of the above data points were released at 10pm ET, and had obvious effects on stocks and bonds.

Notably absent from the chart above is some indicator for Chinese markets (i.e. Chinese stocks or bonds).  Interestingly enough, we’re not seeing the same reaction there, but that’s actually not a total surprise.  We’ll talk about why that is on MBS Live this morning, but the short version is that US markets aren’t so much trading the evolution of the Chinese economy as they are trading the Fed’s expected reaction to it.

Article source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/907751.aspx

Over the years, there have been more times than I can count where the financial media has mistakenly assigned some significance to news or events in China.  The past week has had its moments in that regard, but this time around, the Chinese economy is undoubtedly in play as a market mover.  Either that, or it’s being used as cover for traders to strategically back-fill the post-Fed rally that begin on March 20th–something that was ultimately accomplished this morning.

Overnight economic data in China was this week’s focus in terms of potential market movers.  Chinese GDP came out at 6.4 vs 6.3 forecast (6.4 previously).  Industrial output rose by 8.5% versus a 5.9% forecast. And Retail Sales ticked up to 8.7% from 8.2%.  All of the above data points were released at 10pm ET, and had obvious effects on stocks and bonds.

Notably absent from the chart above is some indicator for Chinese markets (i.e. Chinese stocks or bonds).  Interestingly enough, we’re not seeing the same reaction there, but that’s actually not a total surprise.  We’ll talk about why that is on MBS Live this morning, but the short version is that US markets aren’t so much trading the evolution of the Chinese economy as they are trading the Fed’s expected reaction to it.

Article source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/907751.aspx

• Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch in history.
• She’s ruled over the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarch since her 1953 coronation.
• The queen and her family are frequently in the news — but there are some facts about Queen Elizabeth II that might fly under the radar.

Queen Elizabeth II has had quite a career.

Not only is she the longest-reigning British monarch in history — she’s also the longest-reigning current monarch in the world, and the longest-serving current head of state. On Saturday, April 21, she turns 92 years old.

She’s the first UK monarch to ever celebrate a sapphire jubilee, which marked her 65-year reign in 2017. CNN reported that, should the queen still be reigning on February 6, 2022, she will be the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee.

Elizabeth was a favorite of her grandfather, King George V.

In “Queen and Country: The Fifty-year Reign of Elizabeth II,” biographer William Shawcross wrote that the monarch made for “a surprisingly playful figure” who loved to play games with his first female grandchild. British politician Winston Churchill also reportedly described her as “a character.”

The queen has at least two family nicknames — “Lilibet” and “cabbage.”

Shawcross wrote in “Queen and Country: The Fifty-year Reign of Elizabeth II“ that her grandfather coined “Lilibet.” The family nickname also may have arisen from the way Queen Elizabeth II pronounced her own name as a small child.

Town and Country reported that the queen’s husband Prince Philip also may affectionately refer to her as “cabbage” — possibly a twist on the popular French pet name “mon petit chou,” which means both “my little cabbage” and “my little pastry puff.”

Elizabeth II reportedly made the first ever royal transatlantic telephone call in 1939.

The 13-year-old called her parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, who were touring Canada at the time, according to“I Never Knew That About Royal Britain“

Queen Elizabeth reportedly fell in love with Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark when she was 13.

“Fifty Years the Queen: A Tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Her Golden Jubilee” biographers Arthur Bousfield and Garry Toffoli mark the summer of 1939 as the beginning of her romantic interest; the then-18-year-old Royal Navy midshipman escorted Elizabeth and her sister Margaret on a tour of the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.

For her 1953 coronation, the queen’s coronation gown featured symbolic embroidery that reflected the Commonwealth at the time.

Biographer Robert Lacey wrote in “Monarch: The Life and Reign of Elizabeth II” that the dress featured the English rose, the Scottish thistle, the Irish shamrock, the Welsh leek, the Australian wattle, the Canadian maple leaf, the New Zealander silver fern, the South African protea, the Indian and Ceylonese lotus flowers, and the Pakistani jute.

The queen was the victim of one of the worst royal security breaches in modern history. 

On the night of July 9, 1982, she awoke to discover Michael Fagan in her bedroom, the BBC reported. Fagan had reportedly managed to dodge guards and electronic alarms, according to UPI. A security alarm that the queen pressed didn’t go off, as it wasn’t properly set up. A footman who had been out walking the queen’s corgis subsequently returned and subdued Fagan, according BBC.

The finances of Queen Elizabeth and her son and heir Prince Charles were scrutinized after their names appeared in the leaked Paradise Papers.

The leak revealed that millions of dollars from The Duchy of Lancaster and The Duchy of Cornwall — private estates belonging to the royals — had been invested offshore. Spokespeople from both duchies denied wrongdoing and pointed to the fact both royals voluntarily pay taxes on their incomes, Business Insider previously reported.

Up Next

See Gallery

Her career was recently fictionalized in the Netflix historical drama series “The Crown,” and the royal family is often in the news. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few facts out there about the queen that you might not have heard before.

Here’s a look at some surprising facts about Queen Elizabeth II.

RELATED: Leaders the queen has outlasted

See Also:

• 25 high-paying jobs for creative thinkers
• How to write the perfect email subject line for job hunting
• What it’s REALLY like to be a nurse, one of the most satisfying and in-demand jobs in America right now

SEE ALSO: Queen Elizabeth has a fortune worth over $500 million — here’s where the royal family got their riches

Article source: https://www.aol.com/article/lifestyle/2019/04/21/8-things-you-probably-never-knew-about-queen-elizabeth-ii/23417499/

• Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch in history.
• She’s ruled over the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarch since her 1953 coronation.
• The queen and her family are frequently in the news — but there are some facts about Queen Elizabeth II that might fly under the radar.

Queen Elizabeth II has had quite a career.

Not only is she the longest-reigning British monarch in history — she’s also the longest-reigning current monarch in the world, and the longest-serving current head of state. On Saturday, April 21, she turns 92 years old.

She’s the first UK monarch to ever celebrate a sapphire jubilee, which marked her 65-year reign in 2017. CNN reported that, should the queen still be reigning on February 6, 2022, she will be the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee.

Elizabeth was a favorite of her grandfather, King George V.

In “Queen and Country: The Fifty-year Reign of Elizabeth II,” biographer William Shawcross wrote that the monarch made for “a surprisingly playful figure” who loved to play games with his first female grandchild. British politician Winston Churchill also reportedly described her as “a character.”

The queen has at least two family nicknames — “Lilibet” and “cabbage.”

Shawcross wrote in “Queen and Country: The Fifty-year Reign of Elizabeth II“ that her grandfather coined “Lilibet.” The family nickname also may have arisen from the way Queen Elizabeth II pronounced her own name as a small child.

Town and Country reported that the queen’s husband Prince Philip also may affectionately refer to her as “cabbage” — possibly a twist on the popular French pet name “mon petit chou,” which means both “my little cabbage” and “my little pastry puff.”

Elizabeth II reportedly made the first ever royal transatlantic telephone call in 1939.

The 13-year-old called her parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, who were touring Canada at the time, according to“I Never Knew That About Royal Britain“

Queen Elizabeth reportedly fell in love with Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark when she was 13.

“Fifty Years the Queen: A Tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Her Golden Jubilee” biographers Arthur Bousfield and Garry Toffoli mark the summer of 1939 as the beginning of her romantic interest; the then-18-year-old Royal Navy midshipman escorted Elizabeth and her sister Margaret on a tour of the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.

For her 1953 coronation, the queen’s coronation gown featured symbolic embroidery that reflected the Commonwealth at the time.

Biographer Robert Lacey wrote in “Monarch: The Life and Reign of Elizabeth II” that the dress featured the English rose, the Scottish thistle, the Irish shamrock, the Welsh leek, the Australian wattle, the Canadian maple leaf, the New Zealander silver fern, the South African protea, the Indian and Ceylonese lotus flowers, and the Pakistani jute.

The queen was the victim of one of the worst royal security breaches in modern history. 

On the night of July 9, 1982, she awoke to discover Michael Fagan in her bedroom, the BBC reported. Fagan had reportedly managed to dodge guards and electronic alarms, according to UPI. A security alarm that the queen pressed didn’t go off, as it wasn’t properly set up. A footman who had been out walking the queen’s corgis subsequently returned and subdued Fagan, according BBC.

The finances of Queen Elizabeth and her son and heir Prince Charles were scrutinized after their names appeared in the leaked Paradise Papers.

The leak revealed that millions of dollars from The Duchy of Lancaster and The Duchy of Cornwall — private estates belonging to the royals — had been invested offshore. Spokespeople from both duchies denied wrongdoing and pointed to the fact both royals voluntarily pay taxes on their incomes, Business Insider previously reported.

Up Next

See Gallery

Her career was recently fictionalized in the Netflix historical drama series “The Crown,” and the royal family is often in the news. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few facts out there about the queen that you might not have heard before.

Here’s a look at some surprising facts about Queen Elizabeth II.

RELATED: Leaders the queen has outlasted

See Also:

• 25 high-paying jobs for creative thinkers
• How to write the perfect email subject line for job hunting
• What it’s REALLY like to be a nurse, one of the most satisfying and in-demand jobs in America right now

SEE ALSO: Queen Elizabeth has a fortune worth over $500 million — here’s where the royal family got their riches

Article source: https://www.aol.com/article/lifestyle/2019/04/21/8-things-you-probably-never-knew-about-queen-elizabeth-ii/23417499/