
Our current administration, ever resourceful, has been applying pressure to the Federal Reserve – a rather obvious tactic, really – and now proposes a new approach. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are to purchase a substantial quantity of mortgage bonds – a cool $200 billion, if you please. The logic, naturally, is that increased demand will nudge prices upward and yields downward. A perfectly reasonable assumption, though one wonders why it hasn’t been considered before. The 30-year mortgage rate last week dipped to 6.06% – the lowest in three years. A minor victory, perhaps, but a victory nonetheless. And where there are minor victories, there are, naturally, opportunities. Let us examine a couple of stocks that might benefit from this… easing.