A group of 15 top mortgage REITs increased its agency MBS portfolio by $20.9 billion during the second quarter of 2019, although non-agency MBS investment slipped modestly.

GAO’s analysis of fiscal 2016 default data indicates more than 5% of distressed loans FHA sold to investors were ineligible for sale.

A financial transaction tax proposed by Democratic lawmakers has raised concerns about its impact on investor returns and market liquidity.

The Federal Reserve reduced its holdings of agency MBS by $47 billion during the first quarter, but several other investor groups picked up the slack. Total MBS outstanding grew 0.4% during the first three months of the year.

The transition away from the London Inter-bank Offered Rate could prompt significant tax issues for MBS and ABS investors. The Structured Finance Industry Group wrote to the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury last week requesting guidance on the issue. LIBOR won’t be available after 2021 and market participants are looking for an alternative reference rate. Various securities are tied to the London benchmark rate in terms of the loans that back the deals and their ...

Thanks to rising long-term interest rates, the negative yield curve that investors fretted about two weeks ago has been snuffed out, causing some market watchers to worry less about a coming recession. As Inside MBS & ABS went to press, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was at 2.51%, compared to 2.33% for the two-year and 2.44% for the three-month T-bill. As recently as March 25, the 10-year was at 2.36%, lower than short-term rates. Opinions differ, but some analysts ...

The Federal Reserve lost its top ranking among residential MBS investors during the fourth quarter of 2018, giving way to the commercial banking sector, according to a new In-side MBS & ABS analysis. [Includes three data charts.]

Real estate investment trusts increased their holdings of agency MBS during the fourth quarter of 2018, capping a solid year of growth, according to an Inside MBS & ABS analysis. [Includes one data chart.]

In his semi-annual testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell finally put a number to his talk of “normalizing” the central bank’s balance sheet. He described a balance of $1 trillion as “a reasonable starting point, an estimate of where we might end up.”