Financial Business Recap: Fannie Mae’s Income SOARS, Berkshire Hathaway Pulls BACK on Municipalities

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) might be mulling an aluminum contract that would compare favorably to that of the London Metal Exchange, which dominated trading in the $80 billion market for decades. Traders’ ire regarding the Exchange’s warehousing policies could be giving CME a break.

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Getting help from lower property delinquencies and rising prices, Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) posted a second quarter income of $5.1 billion, which is notably up from the $2.7 billion reported in the first quarter. Just as Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB) has done, Fannie can now make its $2.9 billion dividend payment to the Treasury without having to draw funds from the same.

First it was consumer goods companies and now it’s municipalities – Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE:BRKB) second quarter report shows the firms is retreating from exposure to the latter, as was indicated by a 50 percent reduction. Blaine Rollins pointed out that the company has terminated contracts with a notional value of $8.25 billion, which would have paid out in the event of certain municipal or state defaults.

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