Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner criticized opponents Thursday for their efforts to weaken and ultimately repeal large chunks of financial reform by the Obama administration. Without naming critics, he veiled any references to political and legislative maneuvers in recent years to delay and rid the U.S. legal code of financial reform enacted by the Obama administration in the wake of the recession. Talk of repeal continues to mount for the Dodd-Frank Act.

Smaller mortgage originators are stepping up to the plate to make loans as larger lenders - encumbered by mounting litigation and repurchase claims - pull back from the servicing sector, according to a report released Thursday. Paul Miller, a financial analyst with FBR Capital Markets, based conclusions from the report on quarterly shares of market activity. He credited the retreat by larger lenders for reasons why rivals more than doubled their respective footprints in the mortgage market by the third quarter this year.

Mortgage rates largely stayed the same this week as trouble in the euro zone threatened to upend global financial markets, encouraging investors to stay near the safe haven of U.S. Treasury debt. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac and finance Web site Bankrate.com released separate weekly surveys that found rates hovering at or above figures seen for several weeks in a row. The GSE noted averages for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reaching 4 percent ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô the fifth consecutive week for lows for the benchmark loan.

The weak capital position of the Federal Housing Administration came into play at a hearing Thursday, where members of the House Financial Services Committee grilled HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. Lawmakers took turns interrogating the Obama administration official over substantially fewer reserves in place to meet loan guarantees at a time when the housing market stays near bottom. The federal agency recently came under fire from news media, think tanks, and academia for failing to meet the minimum threshold.

The Federal Reserve released the Beige Report, describing a stable national economy eclipsed by low consumer confidence and a housing market focused on rental properties.

A bold move to shore up global financial liquidity by the Federal Reserve and central banks from five other countries created a surge in confidence for investors Wednesday, inspiring a pickup in stocks and shares for the nation├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós four biggest U.S. lenders. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 500 points to crest at 12,045.68 by end of day in response, with shares climbing for Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. Central banks agreed to lower prices for U.S. dollar liquidity swaps by 50 basis points.

All-time highs for housing affordability helped elevate pending-home sales for October 9.2 percent above figures seen over the same month last year, with fewer bad appraisals scuttling deals across the country. The National Association of Realtors measured contract signings for homes last month against numbers from the month before and last year, which it released with the Pending Home Sales Index. The trade group recorded 93.3 for pending-home sales in October, up from 84.5 in September ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô 10.4 percent above figures seen during that month.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency picked up two new appointees, duly announced by the independent federal agency Tuesday. Richard Hornsby will assume his new role as COO with the FHFA, while Jon Greenlee takes on the position of deputy director of the division of enterprise regulation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will clarify and hone rules from 18 consumer financial laws it arrogated from seven federal regulatory agencies in July.

Home prices drifted lower over the third quarter this year, falling year-over-year by 3.9 percent, according to Standard & Poor├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Case-Shiller Index. The figures inched forward by only 0.1 percent from last month, with the modest pickup reflecting a 5.8-percent improvement from figures seen for home prices over the second quarter. The numbers beat forecasts for a 3.0-percent slide back from the 20-city composite. Fourteen of 20 cities fell in a southerly direction over September 2011, with figures for home prices in Atlanta, Las Vegas, and others sliding.