Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors. Federal Reserve Board chairman Jerome Powell’s apparent pivot, widely seen as telegraphing a short-term rate cut in September, helped drive mortgage rates. However, the decline on the 30-year fixed rate mortgage was a mere 2 basis points, to 6.56% as of Aug. […]
Mortgage rates hit 10-month low as Powell hints at Fed cut Read More »
Mortgage rates hit a new low today for 2025, despite President Trump’s attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook on Monday, which many said would drive up bond yields and mortgage rates this week. I completely understand that this is a complex and confusing topic. On today’s episode of the HousingWire Daily podcast, I discuss
Mortgage rates hit a new year-to-date low, despite Fed drama Read More »
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook plans to sue President Donald Trump after he attempted to fire her on Monday, citing allegations of mortgage fraud. The case has renewed concerns over the Fed’s independence and added fresh volatility to financial markets. “President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. His attempt to
Fed’s Lisa Cook to sue Trump over attempted firing Read More »
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook.Bloomberg News President Donald Trump’s unprecedented move to fire Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook Monday is likely to kick off a high-stakes legal battle over the exact contours of the central bank’s independence, and that battle will likely hinge on whether past actions can disqualify a board member from their current
Cook firing takes the Fed into the unknown Read More »
(Bloomberg) — Former Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard suggested there’s a real risk of multiple Fed district bank presidents getting removed from office next year as a result of politically charged maneuvering by President Donald Trump. Brainard, who served on the Fed board from 2014 to 2023, spoke a day after Trump moved to
Fed bank presidents face risk of removal on Trump’s maneuvers, Brainard says Read More »
President Donald Trump fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook Monday evening after calling for her resignation last week over allegations of mortgage fraud. The move further consolidates Trump’s power at the Fed, which has traditionally been an independent organization shielded from overtly political actions. Cook, who was appointee to the seven-member Federal Reserve Board by
Trump fires Lisa Cook in latest move to pack Federal Reserve with supporters Read More »
Bloomberg News President Donald Trump fired Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook from her post in a Monday night social media post, the first time a Federal Reserve Governor has ever been removed by a president. In a move that is all but certain to ignite an unprecedented legal fight over the Fed’s independence, Trump posted
Trump fires Fed Gov. Lisa Cook ‘effective immediately’ Read More »
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium left real estate and mortgage professionals cautiously optimistic. While expectations are building for lower interest rates, volatility remains a concern. In his final address as Fed chair at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual conference, Powell signaled the possibility
Powell’s Jackson Hole speech stirs cautious optimism for housing Read More »
We’ve reached fresh new year-to-date lows in mortgage rates after Jerome Powell, speaking at the Jackson Hole Economic Summit on Friday, suggested that the labor market may be more important than inflation for the time being. If only someone had been saying that for a few years! All jokes aside, mortgage rates have been trending
Mortgage rates hit year-to-date lows after Powell comments Read More »
President Donald Trump and his allies are demanding Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook resign over alleged owner-occupancy fraud — a practice the central bank itself has found to be “broad-based” across the US. Philadelphia Fed researchers in a 2023 report assessed the number of “fraudulent investors” in the mortgage market, which they defined as those who had
Fed found over 22,000 mortgages like those Pulte is now flagging Read More »