Bear Stearns launches mortgage index

Bear Stearns unveiled its mortgage performance index to investors last week, and will be releasing the report on a quarterly basis going forward. Electronic updates will be published monthly, company officials said.

The index tracks roughly 3,000 transactions in the non-agency originated mortgage market, using the payment histories on $1.73 trillion of originations culled from both the firm's internal database and third-party sources. The index incorporates the cash-flow status of delinquent loans, as well as prepayment speeds, and delinquency and default rates.