Coronavirus

The temporary foreclosure moratorium on loans backed by HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac comes after lawmakers and housing advocates had pushed for steps to avoid consumers getting booted from their homes.

The pandemic has upended staffing plans, sparked concerns about servicers’ capacity to handle the expected crush of missed payments, and even raised questions about their ability to stay afloat.

Sens. Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren criticized Director Kathy Kraninger for not issuing any public enforcement actions against auto lenders during her tenure.

The central bank said it was establishing the Commercial Paper Funding Facility to "support the flow of credit to households and businesses."

With small businesses feeling the financial scourge of the coronavirus, bridge loans could be the direction they turn to keep things afloat.

A large percentage of Institutional investors lack confidence in the U.S. government’s ability to contain and eradicate the coronavirus outbreak. But few have plans to pull capital out of specific geographic regions due to the pandemic.

Add continued growth in commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding to the list of things that the economic fallout from the coronavirus might affect.

The coronavirus card will include real-time updates from the Centers for Disease Control regarding support and testing.

Lenders are rallying around a bill from Sen. Rubio that would give them access to another $50 billion under the 7(a) program. It could face obstacles in the House, where a bill favors direct lending by the Small Business Administration.

The lowest tier of investment-grade companies are growing vulnerable to downgrades to high-yield status - a designation that could drive up their borrowing costs and set off a wave of selling from investors who aren’t permitted to hold such low-quality debt.

The actions include cutting the federal funds rate to between 0% and 0.25% and other steps to ease economic stress from the spread of the coronavirus.

If banks are unable to weather the economic fallout from the outbreak, calls for more dramatic reforms could get louder.

Increased refinancing volume led Fannie Mae to raise its 2020 estimate by $300 billion and 2021 projection by $280 billion.

Not so long after Treasury bond yields experienced an unprecedented drop, the average 30-year mortgage rate rose, reflecting volatility related to the coronavirus as well as capacity issues on multiple levels.

Wells Fargo reports senior bondholders still hold significant protections against a worldwide slowdown in travel or a decline in aircraft values despite the reclassification of the global coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic.

Prices for major term loans issued by operators such as Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide and Caesars Entertainment have fallen in recent weeks as investors grow worried about the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on global tourist and business travel.

Banks may be protected from a direct hit, but they have invested in vehicles that include such loans, potentially exposing them to defaults.

Kathy Kraninger was grilled about whether her agency and others were doing enough to cushion consumers from the economic blow of the coronavirus crisis.

Mortgage companies that borrow heavily to keep their operations running may face financial pressure from coronavirus-related market volatility as it affects the valuations of collateral securing their financing.

Sen. Mark Warner led a group of Democratic senators in calling on bank, credit union and GSE regulators to give detailed instructions on helping consumer and commercial borrowers hurt by the COVID-19 outbreak.