The bust of Spain's construction boom has left some deep scars on the country's economy. To be sure, the crash has been a prime ingredient of the stubbornly high unemployment rate - currently at 21% - as well as of the mountain of troubled assets held by the country's savings banks, known as cajas.

Last month, Turkey's Sekerbank debuted the country's first covered bond, backed by SME loans as collateral. The TL230 million ($135 million), 8-year final deal was purchased by Dutch Development Bank the FMO, which took a €25-million equivalent tranche; the International Finance Corp. ($25 million) and sole arranger Unicredit (€50 million).

Some investors are wary about the $8.5 billion Bank of America agreed to pay in the MBS-related settlement it worked out with 22 large money managers, but if approved the bank will be giving up more than a one-time cash payout. The settlement imposes requirements on the servicer that appear likely to portend long-term and much broader benefits for investors.

The markets continued to grapple with the impasse in Washington regarding raising the debt ceiling as the clock steadily ticks down to the Aug. 2 deadline, and the prospects of a ratings downgrade increase.

MORTGAGE DATA 30-yr. Fixed 15-yr. Fixed 5-yr Treasury 1-yr Treasury- MBA Refi Home Purchase Rate Mortgage Rate Mortgage Indexed ARMs Indexed ARMs Index Index Week ending 08/25/11 4.22%

2011 2010 2009 ABS (Public + 144A) 85,659.5 83,142.1 88,105.2 ABS (Public + 144A excluding CDOs) 81,997.0 81,891.9 86,532.6 ABS (Public Only) 46,577.7 39,513.6 55,667.0 ABS (144A Only) 39,081.8 43,628.5 32,438.3 Non-Agency MBS 43,102.4 13,826.0 7,137.6 Agency MBS 218,508.4 311,702.3 162,425.0 CMBS 24,270.4 15,257.5 3,488.1

Manager Activity: Autos Book Runner Amount (US$ Mil) Rank Mkt.

The recent uproar over regulators' "qualified residential mortgage" (QRM) proposal has obscured the importance of another underwriting standard in the Dodd-Frank Act, the similarly titled "qualified mortgage" (QM).

Chief executives from the country's largest banks sent a letter to the White House and Congress Thursday urging them to reach an agreement the week of July 25 to raise the debt ceiling.

The U.S. homeownership rate fell by less than half-a-point in the second quarter to 65.9% as foreclosures accelerated and consumers put off buying homes because of fears about prices and the economy.

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management is planning to raise a second publicly traded fund to invest in leveraged loans.

Bank of America over the past 10 days tried – and failed – to sell roughly $50 billion of 'legacy' mortgage servicing rights, according to servicing advisors familiar with the auction.