Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rose 40%, the boss said the two houses are expected to lift the custody

Wall Street's oldest controversy is back on trend. Shares of US mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Midea surged on the US OTC market after a post by billionaire Bill Ackman sparked optimism that the two companies could leave the federal government's custody under Trump 2.0. Shares in Fannie and Freddie rose as much as 40 per cent, the highest since November. "What is particularly interesting about these two companies today is that there is a credible way to get them out of custody in a relatively short period of time, within the next two years," wrote Mr. Ackman, who owns Fannie and Freddie shares. Trump tried to privatise Fannie and Freddie several times during his first term. In the month following Trump's election victory in 2024, the shares of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae rose by 116% and 143%, respectively. Between late 2007 and 2008, the two houses were devastated by the US subprime mortgage crisis and were on the verge of bankruptcy. The two houses owned or guaranteed half of the US mortgage market worth $12 trillion, and were too big to fail. Therefore, the US government decided to take over the two houses on September 6, 2008.