RMBS

Pending home sales climbed 2.1% to a reading of 90.8 in February, according to a report released Monday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Four states are considering legislation that would prohibit or restrict appraisers from using distressed sales, such as those of foreclosed properties, as comparable sales when assessing the value of a home.

K&L Gates hired Howard Goldwasser and Xavier Ruiz for its New York office as partners in the finance and corporate practices, respectively.

KGS-Alpha Capital Markets hired Mark Noble as head of structured corporate and agency debt and Jim Tymeck as the new head of the finance desk.

Clayton Holdings formed an independent financial analysis and consulting group and hired a team of structured finance professionals based in New York City to run the practice.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) opened a Washington, D.C. office in an effort to further its advocacy efforts on behalf of the securitization markets.

Loss severities rose across the board for all the indices in the lastest ABX Remittance reports, according to a report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Not only are state attorneys general pushing the nation's megabanks to sign a servicing settlement tied to faulty foreclosure practices, but they want these institutions to sign a regulatory consent order, holding their boards' responsible for correcting deficiencies.

Fitch Ratings has placed 41 tranches of Portuguese structured finance transactions on Rating Watch Negative (RWN) following the lowering of Portugal's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings to 'A-' from 'A+' on March 24.

This week’s U.S. Treasury announcement that it will be selling up to $10 billion per month of its $140 billion MBS portfolio came as a surprise to most MBS market players.