MBS: Billions in CMO Bid Lists Surface

The buzz word last week for mortgage-backed securities was CMO issuance, as several billion dollars worth of collateralized mortgage obligation bid lists saturated both the primary and secondary markets.

"Most of the activity in fixed-rate CMOs has been driven by several large bid lists - bank portfolios selling various bonds across the curve," said Tim Romanow, first vice president of CMO trading at Morgan Keegan. "Spreads have held up pretty well, and most of the paper was absorbed. Some went to the Street, some went to orders."