Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Subprime mortgage bonds losing value

According to Moody’s Investors Service, bonds securitized in 2007 may be the worst vintage ever, exceeding the delinquency rates of 2006 securities. Moody’s, S & P and Fitch Ratings are downgrading 2006 and 2007 subprime securities, as loan delinquencies and defaults reach record highs. We had a wave of downgrades shortly after the two Bear Stearns hedge funds collapsed, but the “party” is not over yet: a lot of this paper is still being reviewed by ratings agencies and more downgrades are on the way.

In this situation, the ones who get to win are hedge funds and investors who made bets on bad loan performance and high foreclosure rates, all the while lenders and funds that invested in subprime, or any mortgage-backed securities, suffered losses or went out of business altogether.

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