Wall Street was more than thrilled with the Federal Open Market Committee’s decision to continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at its current pace to foster the ongoing housing recovery and fight unemployment.
Many industry experts went to Twitter to express their thoughts on the lack of tapering:
Chandan EconomicsPresident Sam Chandan tweeted, “An insipid victory for housing markets; Fed doesn’t believe rebound can be sustained absent artificially low mortgage rates.”
“Less than 3% from Dow 16,000. No chance this momentum goes away any time soon,” tweeted Todd Schoenberger, Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager for LandColt Capital.
Wall Street Strategies CEO and Principal Analyst Charles Payne went to Twitter to say, “Fed admits failure- no tapering no tapering no tapering & down goes Frazier, down goes the $ and down goes sanity- but Wall Street thrilled!”
At the close of the market, the HW 30 index — HousingWire’s exclusive index of stocks impacting the housing economy — as a whole was up 1.61%, driven largely by the Fed’s decision. Nasdaq ended Wednesday 0.99% higher than when it opened, while the S&P 500 was 1.21% positive for the day.
mREITS experienced a massive rebound on the index Wednesday, only one day after Sandler O’Neill analysts to downgraded American Capital Agency (AGNC) and ARMOUR Residential REIT (ARR) to sell from hold.
American Capital Agency Corp. ended the day up a dramatic 5.30%, opening the day at $23.11 per share and ending it at $24.41 per share. The stock has plunged 19.23% since the beginning of the year.
Annaly Capital Management (NLY) was up 4.94% on the index at the end of the day. The mREIT opened at $11.95 per share when the market opened and ended the day at $12.54. Since January, the stock is down 12.43%.
mREIT Redwood Trust (RWT) was up 2.60% by the close of day Wednesday, starting the day at $19.25 per share and ending it at $19.71. The stock is up 12.56% year-to-date.
Finally, Two Harbors Investment (TWO) finished strong on Wednesday, up 4.29% at the end of the day. The stock opened at $9.76 and closed at $10.20 per share. Year-to-date the stock is down 11.61%.