Government

Judge Royce Lambert dismissed lawsuits filed in 2013 by investors at Fairholme Funds, led by Bruce Berkowitz, and Perry Capital with regards to the government's "sweeping" of GSE profits into the U.S. Treasury. The investors believed that the diversion of GSE profits created a "windfall" for the government while short changing GSE shareholders.

In a report on Wednesday, the Commerce Department estimated construction spending for the month of August was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $961.0 billion, a decrease of 0.8 percent from July’s revised estimate of $968.8 billion. The drop included a 0.1 percent falloff in private homebuilding from July, though the much smaller public residential construction category saw a 3.3 percent increase.

AEI's National Mortgage Risk Index measured 11.3 percent last month, little changed from July's index, the group said. As a stress test, the index measures the percentage of loans that would be at risk of turning sour in the event of an economic downturn. Though the index has come down in recent months, it remains nearly twice the acceptable level "conducive to a stable market," AEI said.

​Refinance activity remained more or less level from June to July, though interest in the government's Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) continued to dwindle, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported. The falloff in HARP refinancing continues even as the government works to revitalize the program.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported Monday that personal consumption expenditures increased $57.5 billion—0.5 percent—month-over-month in August. The increase in spending followed a meager revised increase of less than 0.1 percent for July. Spending was helped by a 0.3 percent pickup in personal income, totaling an increase of $47.3 billion.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced the appointment of a new deputy director of its Division of Enterprise Regulation, appointing Nina Nichols to the position.

In its third estimate, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported Friday that gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annualized rate of 4.6 percent in the second quarter. The figure marks a step up from the bureau's last estimate of 4.2 percent growth, which in turn was up from an advance guess of 4.0 percent.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling earlier this week pounced on a GAO report criticizing CFPB's data collection practices, accusing the bureau of "trying to out-NSA the NSA when it comes to accumulating information on Americans." The report came as a result of legislation passed by Congress in January that required GAO to look into CFPB's data collection methods following CFPB's refusal to disclose information about its program to Congress, according to Hensarling.

The Commerce Department reported new home sales in August were up 18 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000. Compared to August 2013, estimated sales were up 33 percent. Economists projected a consensus sales pace of 430,000, which would have been a slight increase over July's upwardly revised figure of 427,000. Forecasts ranged from a low of 407,000 to a high of 465,000—still nearly 40,000 short of the government's estimate.

According to information released Monday by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), the share of home purchase loans made to low- and moderate-income applicants declined to 26 percent in 2013 from 31 percent the year prior. The share of refinance loans going to those borrowers came up just slightly, rising to 20 percent from 19 percent in 2012.