Scott Bessent Thinks Norway May Trade Treasuries for Assets Like Fannie Mae. What That Actually Means for FNMA Stock.

On September 4, Norway's Government Pension Fund Global proposed a significant shift in its fixed-income strategy, potentially reducing its U.S. Treasury holdings by $75–80 billion. The fund aims to increase exposure to non-government U.S. debt, including agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS), which it views as credit quality comparable to U.S. government bonds.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted that Norway might be considering upgrading parts of its American asset base, specifically by swapping plain Treasuries for assets like Fannie Mae's stock. Fannie Mae, a government-sponsored enterprise that purchases mortgages and packages them into mortgage-backed securities, trades at a low valuation, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.34x and a price-to-sales ratio of 0.04x.

The company reported strong second-quarter results, with $4.0 billion in net income and $7.6 billion in net revenue. Bessent's comment has reignited interest in Fannie Mae, but the proposed portfolio change remains a recommendation by the fund and not an allocation to Fannie Mae's shares, which would be subject to approval by Norway's Finance Ministry.