Inflation Pressures Are Easing but Rate Cut Forecast Remains Uncertain

The New Year is beginning where the old one ended -- with uncertainty about when – or whether – the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates.

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The idea of using a local government’s eminent domain authority to “take” and restructure the mortgages of underwater borrowers is getting more attention from municipal officials, who like the concept, and from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which doesn’t like it at all.

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Intensifying pressure from the Obama Administration, legislators and housing advocacy groups forced Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to reconsider his refusal to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce the principal balances on the loans of struggling homeowners. But it didn’t make him change that unpopular position.

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Everyone is jittery about everything. Consumers are jittery about the economy generally and the employment outlook specifically, so they aren’t spending much. Businesses are jittery about the lack of consumer spending, so they aren’t hiring (which is making consumers more jittery) or investing much in equipment either.

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Homeowners struggling to avoid foreclosure, but still current on their loans, may be eligible for relief under a revised short sale program announced recently by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).