RMBS

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Ocwen Loan Servicing's rating as a special servicer to 'SQ2-' from 'SQ2'.

Just about every week so far in 2012 has had a headline or tape bomb to deal with and this week was no exception. In fact, there were two that directly hit the MBS sector, which are the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance premium announcement and February prepayments.

The outstanding amount of home mortgages as of 4Q11 fell $40 billion quarter-over-quarter and $240 billion year-over-year to $10.3 trillion, Standard & Poor's analysts noted this morning, citing the Federal Reserve flow-of-funds data.

It may be a buyer's market for residential servicing rights but that isn't stopping mortgage banking firms from unloading their legacy housing receivables in an attempt to clean up their balance sheets.

Moody's Investor Service this week went “negative” on the mortgage insurance industry, citing the sector's weak financials and calling its future “unclear.”

The Federal Reserve Board today released action plans for supervised financial institutions HSBC North America Holdings, Ally Financial, and IMB HoldCo.

Servicers have increasingly opted to stop advancing principal and interest payments on delinquent subprime loans. This trend can have broad implications for bond values, FTN Financial analysts said in a report.

Sen. Chuck Grassley took the Justice Department to task Wednesday for its fair lending settlement with Countrywide Financial Corp., saying it will have minimal economic impact for affected borrowers.

For the week ending March 8, Freddie Mac reported 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 3.88%, down two basis points from last week and one basis point above the recent 3.87% record low.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday it is selling $6 billion of its common stock in American International Group (AIG), half of which AIG intends to buy itself at the initial public offering price.