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The firm also repurchased approximately 7 million shares‒‒worth about $250 million‒‒of its common stock in the quarter. According to the statement, Morgan Stanley stock leapt from 74 cents per share to $1.18 between the first quarters of 2014 and 2015. The firm plans to repurchase as much as $3.1 billion of common stock through the end of Q2 2016.

Fannie Mae’s software upgrade is part of an effort it’s been rolling out since the beginning of the year. The GSE introduced Collateral Underwriter to the market in January and has nearly 800 lenders registered as users already, according to the Monday announcement. For some, the new system makes immediate and obvious sense.

The Atlanta-based bank reported $411 million in net income, or 78 cents per share, which translates to a 7 percent increase over Q1 of 2014 and $33 million more than in Q4.

A core argument of the report is that the government’s attempt to handle the economic disasters of the past several decades have resulted in a bloated and redundant regulatory infrastructure that has made a mess of its own efforts to police the nation’s financial system.

Following weeks of debate over whether the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) would be lowering its fees to guarantee mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the ...

“Get Financially Fit In and Around Your Home” rounds out National Financial Literacy Month with a discussion on what prospective homebuyers can learn and what existing homeowners can do to bring down expenses.

Wednesday’s update spells out how lenders are to provide mortgage applicants with homeownership lists of HUD-approved housing counseling agencies, homeownership counseling lists, the use of a consumer’s mailing address to provide the list, and high-cost mortgage counseling qualifications.

Lockhart said before a monetary policy liftoff decision is made, he would like to see data that the desired outcomes are being achieved – but he said support for a monetary policy liftoff decision will be a judgment call. But in the big overall economic picture, he said, strength in one aspect of the economy may offset ambiguity in another area.

But these declining numbers are nothing new. The numbers of renters making the transition to homeownership has dropped consistently over the past couple of years, and rates have remained below 17 percent mark (the historical average) since 2008.

Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein said he was pleased with the fact that “all of our major businesses contributed” to the strong first quarter. “Given more normalized markets and higher levels of client activity, we remain encouraged about the prospects for continued growth,” he said.