ABS market: Ain't nothing going on but the mortgage

The U.S. ABS primary market had a respectable, if somewhat limited, week of new issue supply, pricing roughly $11 billion in primarily mortgage ABS. Aside from home equity, auto loan and student loan ABS were the only other options investors were given.

Demand remained fairly strong, but showed signs of softening in the near term, particularly down in credit, as home equity subordinates once again moved out to the 300 basis point threshold over one-month Libor. Meanwhile, spreads for triple-A paper remained tight depending on the name, as 30 basis points over Libor for 2.5-year fixed-rate notes was achieved at both the two- and three-year part of the curve.