Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac floundering
It’s been one roller coaster of a financial week. The stock value of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the largest issuers of mortgage loans to most middle-class Americans — has lost 80 percent of its value over the last several weeks, plunging to 17-year lows.
Senior Washington officials are trying to reassure investors that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have sufficient capital to continue financing America’s loans.
This is the just the latest addition to strong currents running through the global economy. "The Takeaway’s" John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji get the details from Gretchen Morgenson, assistant business and financial editor at the "New York Times."
According to Morgenson, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are crucial to the mortgage lending industry — they finance a lot of home mortgages, and have almost six trillion dollars in mortgages that they are either guaranteeing or financing. We are having one roller coaster of a financial week. The stock value of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the largest issuers of mortgage loans to most middle-class Americans — has lost 80 percent of its value over the last several weeks, plunging to 17-year lows.
Senior Washington officials are trying to reassure investors that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have sufficient capital to continue financing America’s loans.
This the just the latest addition to strong currents running through the global economy.
"The Takeaway’s" John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji talk to Gretchen Morgenson of the "New York Times."
According to Morgenson, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are crucial to the mortgage lending industry — they finance a lot of home mortgages, and have almost six trillion dollars in mortgages that they are either guaranteeing or financing.
"The Takeaway" is PRI’s new national morning news program, delivering the news and analysis you need to catch up, start your day, and prepare for what’s ahead. The show is a co-production of WNYC and PRI, in editorial collaboration with the BBC, The New York Times Radio, and WGBH.
More at thetakeaway.org
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.