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Fitch Warns on Alt-A
Calculated Risk — From HousingWire: Fitch: Alt-A Mortgages Deteriorating More Rapidly than Expected Citing “a rapid deterioration of U.S. Alt-A RMBS performance,” Fitch Ratings again took the hatchet to its previous assumptions for Alt-A mortgages on Monday morning, revising its surveillance methodology and updating loss projections for all U.S. Alt-A RMBS. Hoocoodanode?

Fitch Watches 60 Minutes, Downgrades Alt-A Mortgages: Pathetic $$
Todd Sullivan's - ValuePlays — ... The day after 60 minutes aired this piece of the coming Alt-A disaster, Watch CBS Videos Online Ficth took the following action: From Housing Wire Citing “a rapid deterioration of U.S. Alt-A RMBS performance,” Fitch Ratings again took the hatchet to its previous assumptions for Alt-A mortgages on Monday morning, revising its surveillance methodology and updating loss projections for all U.S. Alt-A RMBS. Fitch said it now expects losses on all Alt-A collateral to far exceed the estimates of its ‘moderate ...

Tuesday morning links
The Mess That Greenspan Made — ... the wall - Financial Times Europe banks face $19 billion Q4 write-down - Reuters Latin nations fight economic slump with stimulus - LA Times Trichet Sees Rate-Cut Limit, Signals ECB May Pause - Bloomberg HOUSING Home buyers stirring in some markets - Christian Science Monitor Two Ways to Revamp U.S. Housing Policy - NY Times In a short sale, it's all about what the lender will net - LA Land Fitch: Alt-A Mortgages Deteriorating More Rapidly than Expected - HousingWire ...

Twenty Comments on the Current Economic Scene
The Aleph Blog — ... too many loans with too few native buyers.  Watch the loan covenants, so that you can get good recoveries in a default.  If you are an institutional investor, this is a place to play now that will deliver reliable returns net of defaults.  For retail investors, the closed end funds typically employ too much leverage — it is possible that one could collapse before this crisis is over. 12) Residential mortgages continue to weaken along with property prices.  Two examples: Alt-A loans and second mortgages. 13) I have a lot of respect ...