Securitization analysts said that it's likely that volumes will begin tapering off after Thanksgiving and for the rest of the year.
"In years past (i.e. four to five years ago), the year end trade has brought some volatility, but in the last year or two there has been nothing crazy which has taken place and I see the same phenomenon as we close out this year," said Jefferies mortgage bond trader Jesse Litvak.
In the run-up to Thanksgiving, a number of deals were announced. For instance, Harley Davidson Motorcycle Trust 2010-1 is in the market with a $600 million motorcycle contract-backed deal.
The six-tranche transaction is rated by Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's.
Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Securities and JPMorgan Securities are joint bookrunners on the deal. Co-managers on the transaction are CastleOak Securities and Loop Capital Markets.
Delta Air Lines has also come to market with its Delta Passthrough Trust 2010-2A. Joint bookrunners on the $474.072 million offering are Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche. Co-managers on the ABS are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Agricole and UBS.
The transaction is backed by 22 Boeing aircrafts, three of which delivered new in 2009, as well as three each of vintage Airbus and McDonnell Douglas aircrafts.
Santander Consumer USA is also out wtih Santander Drive Auto Receivables Trust 2010-3, a $675,200,000 million deal backed by auto loans. The five-tranche deal is rated by S&P and DBRS. Deutsche, Santander and Citigroup are managing the securitization.
The student loan sector is also seeing some action from South Carolina Student Loan Corp., which is reportedly marketing a $500 million FFELP-backed SLABS which is said to price this Wednesday.
On the mortgage end, Flagstar Bank has closed on the sale of a $474 million portfolio of non-insured nonperforming residential first mortgages.
Additionally, Walter Investment Management Corp. has also priced a private placement of RMBS notes to be issued by Mid-State Capital Trust 2010-1. The offering comprises $135 million of notes backed by RMBS, building and installment sale contracts, promissory notes, related mortgages as well as other security agreements.
Meanwhile, BlackRock announced that it is looking to invest upwards of $1 billion in Jumbo mortgages with the goal of issuing securities backed by the loans. If it cannot securitize the product right away, the firm might issue participation certificates backed by the underlying loans.
However, with 33 days left in the trading year, the window for placing new issuance is rapidly closing. "We all know once you start getting into Thanksgiving, things start to become difficult in terms of getting stuff done," Jefferies' Litvak said.
