this is highly excellent if you care about securitization’s future – a must read – BC – Speech by Governor Kroszner on improving the infrastructure for non-agency mortgage-backed securities – At the Federal Reserve System Conference on Housing and Mortgage Markets, Washington, D.C.

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Fla. called No. 1 in mortgage fraud – Michael Van Sickler – A national report released Tuesday said Florida leads the nation in mortgage fraud. Within the state, Tampa is second in the amount of suspicious loan activity.   – Tampabay.com
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On December 1, 2008, in a massive, detailed 112-page opinion (in three parts, here, here and here), Central District of California District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer substantially denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss the Countrywide subprime-related securities class action lawsuit…. – D&O DIary
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Fitch Makes New RMBS Loss Expectations Freely Available – Fitch Ratings has launched ‘RMBS Loss Metrics’, providing investors with the ability to compare relative loss expectations across the universe of approximately 40,000 Residential Mortgage-backed Securities rated by Fitch. – Research Recap

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Jumbo Loan Originations Down 71% (FNM, FRE) – By Dividend.com Staff - According to Inside Mortgage Finance, jumbo-loan originations have dropped 71% to $87 Billion from $303 Billion one year ago. Borrowers that are able to find a financial institution to do a loan are seeing rates averaging 7.49%. – more … 

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A 100 Year Bond: The Ultimate Money Printing Device -  Philip Gvinter – seeking alpha

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FED to Target Long-Term Rates?  — Bernanke said in 2002 ‘ “A more direct method, which I personally prefer, would be for the Fed to begin announcing explicit ceilings for yields on longer-maturity Treasury debt (say, bonds maturing within the next two years). The Fed could enforce these interest-rate ceilings by committing to make unlimited purchases of securities up to two years from maturity at prices consistent with the targeted yields.” – Economic Equities

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IS THE 2007 U.S. SUB-PRIME FINANCIAL CRISIS SO DIFFERENT? AN INTERNATIONAL HISTORICAL COMPARISON – Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff – Working Paper 13761 – thanks Sysan Kulakowski – Univ. of Maryland   

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Harvard’s Endowment Takes an $8 Billion Hit – The university’s endowment, the largest in the nation, has lost about 22 percent of its value as its U.S. and foreign stock portfolios have taken hits, school officials said. -   NY Times 
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Loss Mitigation Outsourcing is Officially “Hot” – By PAUL JACKSON – The number of firms competing for business in the burgeoning loss mitigation space is becoming staggeringly large, as service providers have flooded into a portion of the market that until very recently was largely left to its own devices.  The latest entrant into this crowded space is Houston-based Integrated Mortgage Solutions … – housingwire 

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House Prices Must Return to Trend Levels to Stabilize Market -  Dean Baker:  GSEs can play positive role in deflating housing bubble. – The report, “The Key to Stabilizing House Prices: Bring Them Down,” notes that prices are still hugely out of line with trend levels in bubble markets and calls for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to restrict the buying of mortgages in these areas. This would lead to fewer loans being issued in these markets and prices would quickly adjust to normal levels.  – from CEPR.net 

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Cost of debt protection hits record highs – By Miles Johnson and David Oakley – The cost of protecting debt against default jumped to record highs on Monday amid rising worries over recession and the health of the world economy.  Credit default swaps, which measure the risk of bond defaults, were hit by poor manufacturing numbers in the US, UK, eurozone and China, and the weakness in the equity markets. The iTraxx Crossover index of 50 mainly high-yield companies in Europe rose 44 basis points to an all-time high of 934bp – FT.com 

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Homeless moving into foreclosed homes - MIAMI – TAMARA LUSH  – Activist’s plan is illegal, but he’s not alone in U.S. – thanks Susan Kulakowski – Chicago Sun Times

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Investors accuse Citi execs of “suspicious” trades – By Martha Graybow – An investor lawsuit contends that Citigroup Inc insiders, including senior counselor and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, sold more than $150 million of their own shares at inflated prices while concealing the bank’s true financial health. – Reuters
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An S&L’s Path To The Cliff – Peter C. Beller – The government stood by while Downey Savings met a grisly fate. – Forbes 

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Reed Construction Data on Auto Leasing – Why bail out the Big Three automakers? – by John Clinkard   – thanks Ira Artman