ABS

Freddie Mac reported a decline in fixed mortgage rates for the week ending March 4 with 30-year mortgage rates falling back through 5% to 4.97% from 5.05% last week.

Student Loan Corp. is in the market with a Term ABS Loan Facility-(TALF) transaction backed by private student loans.

Despite ongoing litigation, less than stellar ratings and continued losses on structured finance products, MBIA managed to post positive net income last year.

Barclays Capital is taking orders from investors on at least one Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) structured note deal with two others on the way as the government moves to monetize at least $4 billion worth of product, according to hedge fund and investment bankers familiar with the matter.

JPMorgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Corp has filed a registration document to come to market with a $1 billion CMBS offering, according to a Dow Jones report. The article added that the last time the company came to market was in December with a $500 million CMBS.

Chrysler Financial Services America's over $2 billion auto lease transaction has priced. The lead managers on the Term ABS Loan Facility (TALF)-eligible deal are Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Securities.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust, Calabasas, said its chief investment officer, Michael Muir, has resigned effective March 2. No reason was given for his departure.

Broker dealer BTIG hired James Zurovchak for its RMBS sales team. Zurovchak, who was hired as a director in RMBS sales, will also be trading agency CMOs. He was formerly from Source Capital Group, an NY-based RMBS boutique broker dealer, where he also focused on RMBS sales.

Bingham McCutchen hired Lizzie Baird as a partner in its broker-dealer group. Baird joined Bingham’s Washington, D.C. office from O’Melveny & Myers.

One of the questions posed by the recent financial crisis is whether bond insurers will ever cover mortgage securities risks outside of the municipal sector again.

Standard & Poor’s would like input from loan market participants on a proposed metric that would estimate a CLO’s recovery value.

Where to put a proposed new consumer protection division appears to have become a game of musical chairs.

The GSE regulator has extended the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) for one year so that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can continue to refinance high LTV and underwater mortgages.

AmeriCredit Corp. has expanded and exteded its warehouse credit facility. The borrowing capacity available under the facility increased to $1.3 billion from $1 billion.

Fannie Mae provided added details on what the GSE plans to do regarding the delinquencies on its MBS guarantee portfolio, and released details clarifying the timeline in which it will remove delinquent loans.

GE Capital served as sole lender for an $85 million ABS term loan to U-Haul. The loan will be used to refinance an existing securitization facility.

Delaware Investments has launched a fixed-income mutual fund that holds a variety of assets, including ABS and MBS, the Philadelphia-based firm said today. The fund is available to both individual and institutional investors.

The Association of German Banks called for new standards to restore confidence in securitization and help ease credit for Germany's small- and medium-sized businesses or SMEs.

Starting in September, Freddie Mac will no longer buy or securitize interest-only mortgages, as part of its continuing effort to rein in losses and tighten underwriting.

DebtX will be selling $105.5 million in primarily nonperforming loans for a regional bank in the western U.S.