After spending several years unsuccessfully trying to convince Congress to curtail the roles played by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the mortgage market, the Bush administration this week made a political u-turn and pushed the government-sponsored enterprises...
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The planned acquisition of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase would further consolidate a non-agency MBS market that has been nearly dormant for four months. Based on 2007 data, the combined operations of Bear Stearns and Chase would have accounted for...
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As a group, overseas investors now hold a bigger stake in the U.S. mortgage securities market than any other major institutional class, according to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. As of the end of 2007, foreign investors owned an estimated... [Includes two charts]
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A handful of states are working on foreclosure prevention legislation that could inject substantial uncertainty into the mortgage securitization process for investors, and raise the cost of mortgage financing for borrowers. The measure that has advanced the...
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The rating services are in the midst of an exhaustive review of the ratings on Alt A MBS. “Substantial downgrades will result in many instances,” warned Glenn Costello, a managing director at Fitch Ratings. On a call this week describing Fitch’s review, Costello...
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Reports by Standard & Poor’s last week that the majority of subprime writedowns have already been taken boosted confidence in the financial markets, possibly prematurely. A recent analysis by Bloomberg found that S&P and Moody’s Investors Service failed to...
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Revised legislation introduced in the House is designed to give mortgage servicers greater legal certainty in arranging loan modifications without trampling on the rights of MBS investors. H.R. 5579, the Emergency Mortgage Loan Modification Act...
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