http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/ The current headlines from National Mortgage News en Copyright 2008, SourceMedia, Inc. and National Mortgage News. All rights reserved. Thu, 15 May 2008 12:45:02 EDT andras.malatinszky@sourcemedia.com http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/images/nmn_logo.jpg http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/ 300 100 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#1 Beanstalk Networks Acquisition LLC, a unit of Beanstalk Networks (doing business as OpenClose), has acquired LION Inc. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210867203 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#2 Freddie Mac narrowed its quarterly loss to $151 million ($0.66 per share) in the first quarter, despite a significant increase in credit costs. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780805 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#3 Freddie Mac also announced plans to raise an additional $5.5 billion in new core capital, prompting the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight to say it would reduce Freddie's surplus capital requirement from 20% to 15% upon completion of the effort. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780806 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#4 Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Tenn., is threatening to offer a slew of amendments at a Senate Banking Committee mark-up Wednesday to prevent a "bailout" of mortgage lenders, illegal immigrants, sex offenders, and other undeserving borrowers trapped in "underwater" mortgages. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210867200 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#5 The Senate has passed a flood insurance reform bill in a 92-6 vote that phases out subsidized premiums for certain commercial properties and vacation/second homes and requires properties protected by dams and levees to have flood insurance for the first time. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780807 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#6 New foreclosure filings rose 4% in April and were nearly 65% higher than the level recorded a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace based in Irvine, Calif. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780808 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#7 The second-quarter Core Mortgage Risk Index stands 16% higher than the level of a year ago, reflecting rising delinquency and foreclosure rates, flat or declining price appreciation, and slower job growth, according to First American CoreLogic, Sacramento, Calif. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780809 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#8 The long-term rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield rose to 3.90% Wednesday morning. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780810 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#9 Kalish & Associates PC, Newnan, Ga., a law firm that supports a variety of real estate and business transactions, has merged with Atlanta-based Morris|Hardwick|Schneider, one of the largest real estate closing law firms in the country. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210867201 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#10 Bank of America, the nation's largest second-lien lender, says it expects losses on its home equity portfolio to be higher than previous estimates. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780811 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#11 Doral Financial Inc., a San Juan, Puerto Rico-based mortgage lender, has reported a net loss of $2.3 million for the first quarter, a substantial improvement from the net loss of $37.3 million recorded in the first quarter of 2007. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780812 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#12 The Market Composite Index, an overall measure of mortgage applications, rose from 655.4 to 674.4 on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended May 9, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780813 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#13 Fannie Mae has announced the pricing of 80 million shares of series T noncumulative, nonconvertible, perpetual fixed-rate preferred stock. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780814 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#14 Simon Property Group Inc., Indianapolis, has announced that it will sell $1.5 billion of senior notes of its majority-owned partnership subsidiary, Simon Property Group LP, at a yield of 235 basis points above their U.S. Treasury benchmarks. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780815 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#15 Hersha Hospitality Trust, a Philadelphia-based real estate investment trust, has priced a public offering of 6 million shares of common stock at $9.90 per share. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780816 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#16 Standard & Poor's has announced that Under Armour Inc. will replace mortgage lender Indymac Bancorp Inc. in the S&P MidCap 400 after the close of trading on May 15. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780817 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#17 Moody's Wall Street Analytics has announced an expansion of its cash flow analytics platform to offer an extensive library of cash flow waterfalls and loan-level data on U.S. subprime securitizations. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210867202 2008-05-15 11:07:59 http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/#18 Thirty-seven classes from 10 scratch-and-dent mortgage-backed securities transactions issued by Residential Asset Mortgage Products have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/premium/archive/?ts=1210780818 2008-05-15 11:07:59