ABS

At a time when a number of investment managers are selling loan portfolios to recoup whatever they can, BlueMountain Capital Management, a privately owned investment management firm, has launched the BlueMountain Corporate Loan Fund, a fund that will focus on distressed U.S. leveraged loans.

The head of Nomura’s leveraged finance group in Europe has left to start a new debt advisory firm, and has taken a few other bankers with him, according to the Financial News.

Freddie Mac reported 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates fell to 4.98% from 5.03% last week.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) published its Turner Review, a report on recommendations for reforming the U.K. banking system and the rest of the global financial markets.

Huntington Bancshares appointed Randall Stickler as senior executive vice president and director of commercial real estate effective April 16.

Cheyne Capital appointed Nicolas Vocos as ABS analyst. The new hire will be responsible for modeling and analytics in Cheyne Capital's ABS group.

The Federal Reserve announced that it will buy an additional $750 billion in agency MBS through the end of the year.

Cantor Fitzgerald has expanded its debt capital markets group, adding 25 new investment professionals since December, the New York-based firm announced today.

Issuers Ford Motor Credit Co. and Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. are jumping on the Term ABS Loan Facility (TALF) bandwagon by coming to market with TALF-eligible auto transactions. Both deals are scheduled to price today.

Mortgage applications during the week ended March 13 rose 21.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week, bolstered by close to a 30% week-to-week jump in refinancing that some think could mark the beginning of an upward trend.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is experiencing "a large number of zero payment defaults" in which borrowers fail to make even one payment on their new government-insured mortgages.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has proposed changes to its "other-than-temporary impairment" rules that should relieve many institutions from taking sharp losses on their holdings of MBS.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac officials are expressing concerns that the American Securitization Forum's (ASF) efforts to draft consensus secondary market standards could potentially create another mortgage identification standard outside of the MERS Mortgage Identification Number (MIN) and cause confusion in the industry.

The Federal Reserve's targeted buying primarily in the lower part of the coupon stack (4.5s and 5s) has made these coupons rich versus the rest of the stack, FTN Financial analysts said.

Yesterday the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued two proposed staff positions (FSPs) aimed at providing added application guidance on fair value measurements and impairments of securities.

Loan modifications by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rose 76% from the third quarter the fourth, said the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

Aquila Capital, the Hamburg-based alternative investment company, has appointed Lauren Damask as managing director, head of global client advisory.

The new Italian Tremonti Decree may impact Italian RMBS and Obbligazioni Bancarie Garantite (OBG) programs, Fitch Ratings said.

Yesterday Texas State Securities Commissioner Denise Voight Crawford signed a final consent order that requires Wachovia Securities to pay close to $4 million. The firm is registered as a securities dealer in the State of Texas.

Delinquency as well as charge-off rates for credit card asset-backed trusts are still increasing on a year-over-year and month-over-month basis, according to a report released today from Merrill Lynch/Bank of America.