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Investing.com -- Shares of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae (OTC:FNMA) and Freddie Mac (OTC:FMCC) fell 7% in Friday trading after Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte indicated the companies would likely remain in conservatorship.
The decline extended into a second consecutive day of losses, with the stocks at one point dropping as much as 15% for Fannie Mae and 16% for Freddie Mac, marking their steepest intraday falls since early June.
In an interview with Barron’s last week, Pulte stated that the mortgage giants would "likely" remain in conservatorship, though he noted the Trump administration is exploring options to "take pieces, or some of, the companies public."
The comments appeared to dampen investor hopes for a full exit from the government control that has been in place since the 2008 financial crisis.
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman challenged Pulte’s reported position on social media platform X, suggesting the FHFA director was "either being mischaracterized or misunderstood." Ackman expressed his belief that both companies are "likely to exit conservatorship within the next year or so," with the government maintaining majority ownership while allowing approximately 20% public ownership.
"Conservatorship is for insolvent financial institutions, not for recapitalized listed companies," Ackman wrote, suggesting the shares could eventually be relisted on major exchanges with remaining government-owned shares becoming assets in a "newly formed sovereign wealth fund."
The mortgage finance companies have been under government conservatorship since September 2008, when they were rescued during the housing market collapse.