RMBS

ABCP looms large among the victims of Moody's bank downgrades on June 21. Some of these banks support ABCP conduits, which, in turn, saw their ratings drop. And in ABCP land, that single grade difference can make or break a conduit. It's because money market funds - ABCP's biggest investors - can only buy 'P-1' paper.

>Officially launched during the Global ABS confrence in mid-June, the initiative of prime collateralized securities (PCS) could provide the stimulus to issuance for which European players have been waiting.

Proposed bank capital rules are likely to both benefit and crimp the securitization market, potentially making highly rated transactions less attractive while having uneven effects on different asset classes.

Investors appeared very much to play the range this final week of June - and a tight range it is. In the last half of June, the 30-year current coupon spread to 10-year notes has ranged between 106 and 109 basis points.

Lehman Brothers Holdings has completed the sale of its Aurora Bank unit, which concludes "a process that successfully avoided a potentially costly government resolution process of Lehman's two banks and that will ultimately yield significant recovery value for the Lehman creditors," a release from the bank said.

There were 63,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in May 2012 versus 77,000 in May 2011, according to CoreLogic’s National Foreclosure Report released today.

Amherst Securities Group (ASG) analysts in their latest Amherst Mortgage Insight talked about the recently approved Homeownership Protection Program (HPP), which allows municipalities to acquire underwater residential mortgages using the right of eminent domain. The program is a product of a resolution approved on June 19 by California’s San Bernardino County and its two cities named City of Ontario and the City of Fontana.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is planning stronger disclosure requirements for reverse mortgages as more evidence emerges that senior citizens are using the product without fully understanding its main features and risks.

An independent government watchdog has a sharp message for the federal agency that must decide whether to allow principal reductions on hundreds of thousands of government-backed mortgages: Time's wasting.

Freddie Mac reported 30-year mortgage rates held unchanged at a record low 3.66% for the week ending June 29.