3 Things That Could Move Financial Stocks Today

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- President Obama in his State of the Union address on Tuesday proposed a plan that would allow every "responsible homeowner" a chance to save $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinance at historically low interest rates.

The President did not elaborate on the details of the plan except to say that a "small fee" on the largest financial institutions will help fund the plan and "give banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust."

Rumors of a refinancing plan surfaced a few weeks ago causing a rally in banking stocks on hopes that it will revive the housing market. Those rumors were denied by the White House. Analysts also pointed out that banks will likely not benefit from a massive refinancing plan as they hold agency mortgage-backed securities and bondholders stand to lose from this deal.

Shares of the biggest mortgage originators including Bank of America(BAC), JPMorgan Chase(JPM) and Wells Fargo(WFC) are likely to move on the news, though it remains to be seen if the proposal gets congress approval.

Obama also called upon Attorney General Eric Holder to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and leading state attorneys general to expand investigations into abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages. "This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans."

His announcement comes as banks and states are working towards a settlement on faulty foreclosure practices. Banks have been seeking a broad release from future claims from states in exchange for making reductions to principals on loans. The settlement, estimated at $25 billion, is expected to be announced within weeks.

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The Federal Reserve will for the first time publish its interest rate forecasts for the market, including the timing of its next rate hike.

The Fed will present two charts- one showing each member's forecasts of when the Fed will hike short term rates through 2016 and another showing each member's forecast of the Fed fund rate at the end of 2012, 2013, 2014 and the long run.