Finance

Just about every week so far in 2012 has had a headline or tape bomb to deal with and this week was no exception. In fact, there were two that directly hit the MBS sector, which are the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance premium announcement and February prepayments.

In one of the most ambitious suits of its kind so far, Space Coast Credit Union has filed suit against several investment banks and rating agencies for the sale of $150 million of CDOs to Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union, the huge Florida credit union that failed in 2009 then was acquired by Space Coast.

Auto sales are gaining strength, which can further boost auto securitization issuance, analysts stated.

The outstanding amount of home mortgages as of 4Q11 fell $40 billion quarter-over-quarter and $240 billion year-over-year to $10.3 trillion, Standard & Poor's analysts noted this morning, citing the Federal Reserve flow-of-funds data.

It may be a buyer's market for residential servicing rights but that isn't stopping mortgage banking firms from unloading their legacy housing receivables in an attempt to clean up their balance sheets.

Ongoing pressure on the credit ratings of some of the largest financial institutions could result in a minor shakeup in the ranks of CLO trustees.

Moody's Investor Service this week went “negative” on the mortgage insurance industry, citing the sector's weak financials and calling its future “unclear.”

Continental Airlines this afternoon sold $892.14 million of passthrough certificates through a deal called Continental Airlines 2012-1 EETC.

The Federal Reserve Board today released action plans for supervised financial institutions HSBC North America Holdings, Ally Financial, and IMB HoldCo.

Servicers have increasingly opted to stop advancing principal and interest payments on delinquent subprime loans. This trend can have broad implications for bond values, FTN Financial analysts said in a report.

Sen. Chuck Grassley took the Justice Department to task Wednesday for its fair lending settlement with Countrywide Financial Corp., saying it will have minimal economic impact for affected borrowers.

For the week ending March 8, Freddie Mac reported 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 3.88%, down two basis points from last week and one basis point above the recent 3.87% record low.

The volume of CMBS conduit loans that were liquidated in February fell significantly, dropping 43% from January's reading, according to CMBS data provider Trepp.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday it is selling $6 billion of its common stock in American International Group (AIG), half of which AIG intends to buy itself at the initial public offering price.

General Electric Capital Corp. (GE) is going to issue under its GE Equipment Transportation LLC, Series 2012-1. The deal will be sized at $716.5 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on the offering.

Walter Investment Management Corp. (WIM) lost $4 million in the fourth quarter and $69 million for the year because of costs tied to its purchase of Green Tree Servicing, St. Paul, Minn.

The 9.37% CMBS delinquency rate in February was lower both sequentially and compared to year-ago monthly figures by Trepp's measure.

In a regulatory filing today, Ally Bank has upsized its previously $1 billion auto ABS to $1.7 billion. The deal is rated by Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service.

Proposed changes to the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV) – which is the European Union's mechanism for implementing Basel III into law – could cause banks' capital requirements to be diluted.

Judicial Watch has sued the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), claiming that the agency wrongfully denied a request for documents related to a lawsuit over alleged misrepresentations of MBS.