Fannie Mae stock erased its Friday gain in afternoon trading after a report about the departure of the secondary mortgage lender's high-ranking employees.

At least 10 senior employees are leaving, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. A senior administration official told Barron's the employees were terminated. The employees couldn't immediately be reached.

The stock had been up as much as 2.3% earlier in the day but gave away most of its gains shortly after 2 p.m., according to Dow Jones Market Data. It bounced back to close up 1.62% at $6.29.

Shares of Freddie Mac, another secondary mortgage lender, closed 1.6% higher at $5.71.

The two companies, which buy and securitize mortgage loans and sell them to investors as mortgage-backed securities, have been under government conservatorship since the mortgage market collapse in 2008. They provide liquidity to mortgage lenders and, in extension, home buyers.

While the companies are an important part of the mortgage market, the news of departures did not appear to have an effect on mortgage bond trading, according to bond and mortgage market watchers who spoke to Barron's.

The stocks rose significantly after Donald Trump was elected president in 2024 on investors' expectation that the administration would move to end their long-running government conservatorship, though there has been little news recently.

The cases for and against ending the companies' conservatorships are complex, but among the concerns is any potential impact on mortgage rates, since the companies are central to mortgage lending.