Government

Putting capital earned from its recent initial public offering to good use, AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc., announced that it has achieved significant deployment of its new liquidity. The company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós IPO and simultaneous private placement were concurrently completed on July 6, and by utilizing the capital gained in that transaction as well as the underwriters├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ó overallotment option, established and closed on July 20, AG has also been able to debut its initial portfolio.

Fidelity Mortgage, Inc. has new ownership. PSM Holdings, Inc., recently announced the completion of its acquisition, which fuses Fidelity with United Community Mortgage Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Prime Source Mortgage, Inc., via its parent company, PSMH.

Nine brokers and five lawyers will face prosecution over their alleged role in a $58 million mortgage fraud scheme that banked on 100 loans across New York City and three state counties. According to a Thursday statement, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and Federal Bureau of Investigation stepped up with a five-count indictment against the defendants. Starting in 2004, Gerard Canino and co-conspirators allegedly closed deals for distressed properties by going through sham buyers and attorneys.

Citing recent trouble on Wall Street, anemic job growth, and lags in the housing economy, the Federal Reserve made public that it will keep interest rates at historically low levels until 2013. The new language marks a market-rallying policy shift for the central bank, which previously kept mum about when it would hike up interest rates. A 429-point jump by the Dow followed a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in which the Fed's decision-makers reportedly failed to reach a consensus on interest rates.

Standard & Poor├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós continued a bold streak it started Saturday by deflating debt credit ratings for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Monday, scaring investors and adding velocity to the Dow's 630-point plunge.

Those in the market for a home in Arizona will soon have an enhanced version of the popular multiple listing service (MLS) to assist them when perusing real estate options. The Arizona Association of Realtors (AAR) recently moved to build out a statewide version of MLS via the acquisition of the state├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós most comprehensive existing MLS.

In opposition to the recently recorded declines, the Fiserv Case-Shiller Indexes predicts stable numbers around the country by 2012. Notable stats from the 380 markets that the survey examined include a forecasted rise in housing affordability to pre-crisis levels and an increase in home pricing strength near the start of 2012. The Fiserv Case-Shiller Home Price Insights, available now, indicate that housing affordability could rise, since current pricing is about 5 percent above data from 2000.

A rollercoaster Dow Jones Industrial Average, successive downgrades in U.S. Treasury and GSE debt, and renewed worries over euro zone defaults buried news over the weekend that the FDIC circled wagons around two new failed banks. The federal agency covered the $160.4 bill left by two banks in Illinois and Washington that brought the failed financial institutions tally to 63 for the year. Requiring the FDIC to step in as receiver, Illinois-based Bank of Shorewood and Washington-based Bank of Whitman both closed.

Standard & Poor├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós sent markets into a tailspin Monday when it downgraded credit ratings on debt for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, citing majority ownership by the federal government, whose own ratings the agency pulled down to AA+. Showing no remorse, the ratings agency also downgraded debt ratings for 10 Federal Home Loan Banks across the country. The dual downgrades represented a vote of no confidence by S&P that helped create selloff frenzy on Wall Street.

Markets and investors recoiled Saturday over news that ratings agency Standard & Poor's slapped U.S. Treasury debt with a downgrade, shifting credit ratings for the world's largest economy from the long-prized AAA rating to a weaker AA+ rating. In response, Treasury yields dipped over Monday, as housing analysts suggested that the hyped downgrade would hurt borrower confidence more than mortgage rates. Rather than run, investors bought up Treasuries Monday.