Asset Securitization Report is pleased to announce that Edward Reardon of JPMorgan is the Grand Prize winner of Thomson Financial's Closest to the Pin contest, having predicted with astonishing accuracy the value of several key indicators in the year-to-date structured finance market. For his keen acuity, the ace competitor wins a set of Ping i3 Irons or a $1000 travel American Express gift cheque.
The contest, sponsored by Asset Securitization Report and IFR MortgageData, received a wellspring of attention and entrants at the recent Phoenix ABS conferences, with hundreds of structured finance professionals from around the globe participating. Each entrant took a swing at making the most precise prediction for a variety of securitization-related indicators, including year-to-date ABS issuance (1/1/02 to 2/22/02), swap spreads, Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey mortgage rate, and the spread on 10-year triple-A CMBS for a specific day (see questions below).
Mr. Reardon's responses were impressive; after our staff calculated each of his answer's variance from the correct answer, the European-based JPMorgan ABS researcher achieved a mean variance of only 0.343 from the actual benchmarks. In fact, his prediction for the triple-A CMBS spread was spot-on, at 49 basis points over Swaps.
The runners up were equally perceptive. Mark Andrews, a director from Nationwide, came in second place, with a mean variance of only 0.886 from the indicators, and walked away with either a brand new Titleist 975J Driver or a weekend stay at a Starwood Hotel; No. 3 was Matthew Goldenberg, a vice president from DVI, Inc. in Jamison, Penn., who gets a choice of either a Scotty Cameron Putter or a $250 AmEx gift check; Justin Hoogendoorn, a portfolio manager from Northern Trust, placed in fourth position, and he is the proud new owner of two dozen Titleist Pro V1 golf balls or a $100 AmEx gift check; and finally, the fifth-place winner is Brian Peterson, the senior manager of the CDO group at Investors Bank & Trust, who can prepare a nice hearty meal for himself after a long day out on the green with his brand new set of steak knives.
Thomson Financial and Asset Securitization Report congratulate all the winners and thank all those in the structured finance community who participated in the Closest to the Pin contest. See you next year!
