Government

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an increase of 142,000 in U.S. payrolls last month, well short of the 230,000 predicted by economists. August's sudden slowdown snaps a six-month streak in which payroll growth came in at 200,000 or higher.

In a note sent earlier this week, equity research analyst Richard Bove at Rafferty Capital Markets warned clients of a potential mortgage crisis in the making, according to a report from CNBC. With the Federal Reserve on track to end its monthly bond purchases, Bove cautions that the loss of one of the tools used to help lift housing out of its post-recession rut could hurt the market, especially as interest rates start to tick back up.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency proposed a rule to amend financial institutions' requirements for application and membership retention in one of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks. The revision was proposed to ensure that members stay committed to housing finance and that only those eligible will have access to membership benefits and advances from one of the Federal Home Loan Banks.

Total construction spending, both private and public, surged to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $981.3 billion, up from $906.6 billion in July last year. For private residential construction, the numbers reflected a 7 percent boost year-over-year, eclipsing new home data in June at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $358.1 billion.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) proposed last week a rule to establish new housing goals for 2015 through 2017 for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For single-family housing goals for 2015 through 2017, FHFA requests comment on three alternative approaches regarding prospective benchmarks for low and very low-income families.

Lawyers for Bank of America have filed to overturn a jury verdict last year that held the bank liable for fraud over faulty mortgage-backed securities sold by its Countrywide unit. In their motion, BofA's lawyers argue the government failed to prove the loans involved in the case were advertised as being higher quality than they were.

A report released Thursday by FDIC showed that federally insured institutions earned $40.2 billion and increased loan and lease balances by $178.5 billion (to $8.1 trillion) in the second quarter. The boost in lending was the largest quarterly increase since the fourth quarter of 2007.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that gross domestic product (GDP) grew last quarter at an annualized rate of 4.2 percent, a little bit better than the 4.0 percent growth originally recorded in last month's initial estimate. Economists had expected no change from the first report.

A report filed last week by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) states that Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae ignored "red flags" with regards to a mortgage fraud scheme perpetrated by lenders Taylor, Bean & Whitaker and Colonial Bank. In addition to the losses absorbed by Freddie Mac (almost $2 billion) and Ginnie Mae (almost $1 billion), private banks that conducted business with Taylor Bean lost billions.

FHFA's seasonally adjusted House Price Index rose 0.4 percent on a monthly basis in June, matching May's rate of growth. The agency also included quarterly comparisons in its June index, finding that home prices were up only 0.8 percent from the first quarter to the second—the first time quarterly price growth has been below 1 percent since early 2012.