2011-10-10

Fannie and Freddie not out of the woods

Fannie and Freddie debt fuels anxiety
Spooked by US political wrangling, major investors including the National Pension Service of Korea and the Kuwait Investment Authority have sold out of their holdings of the debt of the US Treasury-backed housing agencies since the 2008 global financial crisis. Officials from central banks, including the Bank of Japan, say they will be far more cautious in future.
Even though Asian and Middle Eastern investors are buying less Fannie and Freddie debt, the price of the bonds does not reflect their fears of the risk. Fannie and Freddie debt trades at a very narrow spread to Treasuries. But analysts said market prices have been skewed because of Fed involvement. During the first round of quantitative easing in 2009, for example, the Fed bought more than $175bn of GSE debt in the secondary market. Former Fannie Mae officials and other people familiar with the situation said the sellers of that debt were mostly Asian central banks.
Guess which country still owns lots of GSEs—China.

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