RMBS

Two Harbors Investment Corp. plans to offer 35,000,000 shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering to buy more RMBS. The sale is subject to market and other conditions.

Wells Fargo Bank on Thursday agreed to pay $175 million to settle allegations by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that it targeted black and Hispanic neighborhoods in cities such as Baltimore and Chicago and steered those borrowers into high-cost subprime loans.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is planning on selling more assets from 20 CDOs forming part of its Maiden Lane III (ML III) portfolio. Offering circulars were released today.

Although “sloppier” Alt-A fixed-rate bonds are attractively priced versus their prime counterparts, Amherst Securities Group (ASG) analysts said in a recent report that the collateral is converging.

Last summer rumors were spreading that a private equity firm had amassed $1 billion in cash and was eyeing investments in mortgage banking firms. A year later it appears that no such deals were struck by the unnamed fund, but that hasn’t stopped the talk about PE firms still looking at the sector.

Colony Capital LLC is one of the winning bidders on a Fannie Mae REO sale sponsored by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), according to bidders and other sources familiar with the matter.

Freddie Mac reported more new record lows for 30- and 15-year fixed mortgage rates as well as 5/1 hybrid ARMs.

Homes sales and prices – along with construction activity – have improved over the past few months, but a true recovery in the housing sector is still far away due to tight mortgage credit, according to Federal Reserve monetary policy officials.

San Bernardino County is forging ahead with deliberations on a proposal to seize delinquent mortgages, despite its largest city's decision Tuesday night to seek bankruptcy.