“While markets often make double bottoms, three pushes to a high is the most common topping pattern.” — J. Bollinger

1. Mortgage servicers to pay foreclosure victims — the 14 largest mortgage servicers have come to an agreement with banking regulators and other authorities to pay back homeowners for losses they suffered from foreclosures or loans that were mishandled following the housing collapse. Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Citigroup (C) are among the servicers affected.
2. Senate probe alleges Goldman mortgage deception — A Senate subcommittee has accused Goldman Sachs of selling poor quality mortgage securities it bet against and is pushing the Justice Department to investigate Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein’s testimony before Congress.
3. China GDP +9.7%, CPI +5.4% — Chinese inflation continued to strengthen in March as CPI accelerated to 5.4%, above expectations and the fastest pace since 2008. Q1 2011 GDP also beat forecasts in rising 9.7%, but this was slower than the 9.8% recorded for Q4 2010.
4. SEC close to deal with banks over role in crisis — the SEC is in negotiations with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and other major banks to settle fraud allegations related to mortgage-bond deals that helped cause the financial crisis, according to officials.
5. Moody’s cuts Ireland’s ratings to Baa3 — Moody’s has cut Ireland’s sovereign rating by two notches to Baa3 and maintained a negative outlook.
6. Congress passes ‘$38B’ budget deal — the House and the Senate yesterday approved a $38B budget deal for the rest of the fiscal year. The House passed the bill by 260-167 and the Senate by 81-19.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: