Securitization

It seems the only busy sector of the structured finance market lately is litigation.

Government efforts to rescue the commercial paper market kicked into full gear last week, as two Federal Reserve-sponsored programs got a jump-start.

The October remittance reports - which represented the collection period for September - showed mixed results.

CMBS default rates have been low historically, but now market troubles are starting to ring through a sector that, previously, was relatively immune.

Even those familiar with the Argentine government's taste for theatrical populism were floored when President Cristina Fernandez announced two weeks ago that private pension funds would be nationalized.

The new issue ABS market remained virtually stagnant for yet another week, signaling that general economic conditions are only going to deteriorate further in weeks to come.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg welcomed the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's (SIFMA) annual meeting to New York last Tuesday, speaking at the conference's opening presentation.

Information Management Network Managing Director Scott Brody released a statement regarding a news item that appeared in the New York Post about United Capital Market's CEO John Devaney.

Deerfield Capital Corp. has withdrawn its asset management subsidiary, Deerfield Capital Management (DCM), from Fitch Ratings' CDO Asset Manager (CAM) rating program.

Manager Activity: AutosFull Credit to Book (Equal if Joint) U.S. Public ABS Market/144A Market

The government is moving closer to implementing a plan to guarantee two million to three million at-risk mortgages in return for an agreement from lenders to engage in systematic loan modifications.

Nelnet issued a statement yesterday about Moody's Investors Service's decision to downgrade the company's senior unsecured rating from 'Baa2' to ‘Ba1.’

Fannie Mae announced that it will be taking a valuation allowance against its deferred tax asset. Although the GSE said that the valuation allowance's amount has not yet been determined, it is likely to be substantially all of the value of the deferred tax asset as of Sept. 30.

The board of directors of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) elected Blythe Masters as the trade association's chairman for 2009.

Auto and mortgage finance firm GMAC said yesterday that it had been approved to use the Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF) ,which was created earlier this month and launched on Monday by the Federal Reserve, according to published reports.

Moody’s Investors Service Tuesday night downgraded bond insurer CIFG Assurance NA to 'B3' from 'Ba2', keeping its ratings review with direction uncertain less than a week after Assured Guaranty Corp. agreed to reinsure $13 billion of CIFG’s U.S. public finance book.

Responding to a news story it called inaccurate, United Capital Markets CEO John Devaney released a statement denying the allegations that appeared in a New York Post article. The news item detailed Devaney's being booed for his remarks at the recent Information Management Network ABS East conference, accounts of which were completely false.

The prices of existing homes declined at an unprecedented annual rate during the first half of this year, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price indexes.

In his remarks at today's Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Anthony Ryan said that the subprime an Alt-A markets are not solely to blame for the country's current problems.

The Federal Reserve's Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF), a move that offers a liquidity backstop for U.S. commercial paper issuers, was launched yesterday.