RMBS

Despite historically low mortgage rates, mortgage application activity increased just 0.6% for the week ending Aug. 6.

Even as they begin dropping credit ratings as a supervisory source, regulators signaled Tuesday they are worried about abandoning their use altogether, suggesting that potential alternatives are not much of an improvement.

The Federal Reserve will be reinvesting principal payments from agency MBS and agency debt into longer-term Treasury securities.

Ginnie Mae issued $37.8 billion in MBS in July. Meanwhile, Ginnie Mae II single-family pool issuance reached over $21.8 billion, while Ginnie Mae I single-family pools were close to $14.6 billion.

Insurance holding company Ambac Financial Group reported a net loss in the second quarter, despite big gains in the value of its insured derivatives, and warned that it may be unable to pay its debts in a year.

One blueprint for turning Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into privately run enterprises that is getting some play at Treasury comes from Redwood Trust — the firm that made headlines this spring when it pulled off the first private-label jumbo securitization in almost two years.

Although still rising, the slowing rate of U.S. prime RMBS serious delinquencies might mean they are nearing a peak, according to Fitch Ratings' latest Performance Metrics results.

Bank of America, in a new public filing, said it had $11.2 billion of "unresolved" mortgage buyback requests at June, a 50% spike since the beginning of the year.

The conversation about what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may soon get a little more interesting.

Though the majority of the MBS/ABS group was formed in 2008 and 2009, Jefferies continues to expand in this area.