This could be significant from Nick Timiraos at the WSJ: Regulator Extends Greater Shield to Lenders on Mortgage ‘Put-Backs’
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will extend new waivers to lenders …
The changes are significant because some industry analysts and economists have said they could lay the groundwork for lenders to relax credit standards. Lenders and policy makers have faulted ambiguous rules around mortgage put-backs for lending standards that they say are unnecessarily rigid.
…
The FHFA’s new director, Mel Watt, is set to make his first public speech on Tuesday in Washington.
emphasis added
Tuesday:
• At 7:30 AM ET, the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for April.
• At 8:30 AM, Retail sales for April will be released. The consensus is for retail sales to increase 0.4% in April, and to increase 0.6% ex-autos.
• At 10:00 AM, Manufacturing and Trade: Inventories and Sales (business inventories) report for March. The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in inventories.
• At 11:00 AM, the Q1 2014 Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit will be released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Note: “In conjunction with the release of the report, the New York Fed will also post an update to a recent blog discussing the impact of student loan debt on housing and auto markets.”