CDO

From the WSJ: S&P Slashes CDO Ratings (hat tip Barley)
Standard & Poor’s lowered its ratings on 149 tranches from 31 U.S. cash flow and hybrid collateralized debt obligation transactions worth a total of $8.74 billion.…All of the downgraded tranches come from mezzanine structured finance CDOs of asset-backed securities, high-grade structured finance CDOs of asset-backed securities, […]

From Reuters: S&P may cut $6.42 bln CDOs affecting 149 tranches
Standard & Poor’s may cut the rating on $6.42 billion of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) following downgrades to billions of dollars worth of second-lien residential mortgage-backed securities last month.
S&P said the action affects 149 tranches from 43 U.S. cash flow and hybrid CDOs of asset-backed […]

From Reuters: S&P may cut $6.42 bln CDOs affecting 149 tranches
Standard & Poor’s may cut the rating on $6.42 billion of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) following downgrades to billions of dollars worth of second-lien residential mortgage-backed securities last month.
S&P said the action affects 149 tranches from 43 U.S. cash flow and hybrid CDOs of asset-backed […]

From MarketWatch: Fitch warns it may cut Ambac’s AAA rating
The AAA rating of Ambac’s bond insurance unit was put of Rating Watch Negative by Fitch, which means the agency will downgrade to AA+ in four to six weeks unless the company can boost is excess capital levels before then. A review by Fitch of Ambac’s […]

Press Release via MarketWatch: MBIA Further Addresses Previously Disclosed $30.6 Billion Multi-Sector CDO Exposure
MBIA Inc. has announced that in response to media and other inquiries received as a result of information the Company posted on December 19, 2007 on its Web site relating to its collateralized debt obligations (”CDO”) exposure, the Company is issuing the […]

From MarketWatch: Fitch puts MBIA on ratings watch negative after CDO review
Fitch Ratings put several ratings of MBIA Inc. on Rating Watch Negative on Thursday because of the bond insurer’s exposure to structured finance collateralized debt obligations …
Yes, more “closing the barn door”.
House Price Bookmark
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Update: Q&A added.
Brian sends along this preliminary transcript (unedited) from the Bear Stearns Q4 07 Conference Call:
Fixed income net revenue for the Fourth Quarter was a loss of $1.54 billion, down meaningful it from a gain of $1.1 billion earned in the November 2006 quarter. Sequentially, fixed income revenues also decreased when compared to the […]

From Bloomberg: MBIA Bond Risk Soars on $8.1 Billion CDO Disclosure
MBIA Inc. tumbled … after the world’s biggest bond insurer revealed that it guarantees $8.1 billion of collateralized debt obligations repackaging other CDOs and securities linked to subprime mortgages. …MBIA posted a document on its Web site late yesterday showing it insured the so-called CDOs-squared, […]

Here are a couple of different stories about CDOs and lawsuits. The first story concerns Wall Street selling CDOs to municipalities who now are claiming they were unaware of the risks.
From the Finanical Times: Lehman faces legal threat over CDO deals (hat tip Viv)
Lehman Brothers faces the threat of legal action by municipal councils in […]

From Bloomberg: Security Capital’s AAA Rating May Be Cut by Fitch (hat tip Brian)
Security Capital Assurance Ltd. may lose its AAA credit rating at Fitch Ratings …
The company’s capital is at least $2 billion below what it needs to retain the AAA, Fitch said. SCA has four to six weeks to come up with “firm […]