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Senate Banking Committee leaders were still negotiating late Thursday afternoon on GSE regulatory reform and Federal Housing Administration refinancing bills after furious negotiations Thursday morning had prompted some to predict that an agreement was near. At the request of Sen. Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., postponed a 10 a.m. mark-up session as the two sides tried to come to terms on the foreclosure prevention bill, which uses the FHA to refinance struggling borrowers with "underwater" mortgages. Sen. Dodd said Thursday afternoon that an agreement had not been reached. "We are getting closer, but we aren't there yet," the committee chairman said. Sen. Shelby says he is concerned about using taxpayer funds to refinance speculators and others who made bad decisions. "We shouldn't bail out people who probably shouldn't have bought a home to begin with and probably won't pay if they are refinanced," he said on CNBC-TV.

In a recent item, MortgageWire overstated the mortgage impairment charges for HSBC North America Holdings. According to a spokeswoman for the company, its U.S. subprime division, HSBC Finance Corp., had impairment charges of approximately $2.2 billion in the first quarter, reflecting charges on subprime mortgages, unsecured consumer loans, and automobile notes. The company would not provide a specific impairment figure for subprime mortgages for the quarter. The entire company (HSBC NA) booked total loan impairment charges of $3.2 billion in the quarter, the figure that MortgageWire reported. This figure also includes credit-card-related charges, the spokeswoman said.

Ninety-two classes from 30 scratch-and-dent mortgage-backed securities transactions issued by Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also placed six classes of securities on Rating Watch Negative and affirmed the ratings on $2.2 billion of scratch-and-dent MBS. Fitch can be found on the Web at http://www.fitchratings.com.

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. The Structured Finance Workstation platform enables users to view and edit the cash flow waterfalls of the deals being modeled, allowing them to be certain that waterfalls and associated payment rules are coded properly according to each deal's prospectus, the company said. "The loan-level detail of the library gives users much greater insight into their U.S. [residential mortgage-backed securities] positions," said Jacob Grotta, senior director of Moody's Wall Street Analytics.

Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd., a New York-based bond insurer, has reported a $422 million net loss in the first quarter that reflects "unrealized negative fair-value adjustments and provisions" for home equity lines of credit and closed-end second-lien mortgage-backed securities. The company said it made after-tax, unrealized, negative fair-value adjustments of $317.9 million "for credit derivatives in the insured portfolio and after-tax loss expense of $195.3 million related to second-lien residential mortgage-backed securities." The credit derivatives in the insured portfolio "consist mainly of credit default swaps on pooled corporate risk," FSA said. The company can be found online at http://www.fsa.com.

Thirty-seven classes from 10 scratch-and-dent mortgage-backed securities transactions issued by Residential Asset Mortgage Products have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also placed two classes of securities on Rating Watch Negative and affirmed the ratings on nearly $1 billion of scratch-and-dent MBS. Fitch can be found on the Web at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Fannie Mae has announced the pricing of 80 million shares of series T noncumulative, nonconvertible, perpetual fixed-rate preferred stock. The series T stock (CUSIP 313586737) has a stated value of $25 per share, for a total of $2 billion, and an annual dividend rate of 8.25%. Fannie Mae will have the option to redeem all or part of the preferred stock on or after May 20, 2013. Net proceeds of the offering will be used for general corporate purposes, including "enhancing the company's capital position, providing additional market liquidity, and pursuing new business opportunities," the company said. David Benson, Fannie's senior vice-president and treasurer, said the issuance completes Fannie Mae's recently announced capital-raising plan. Merrill Lynch & Co. acted as joint lead manager and physical book-runner.

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. Doral said the improvement was driven chiefly by a 27.5% reduction in noninterest expenses, a 50% increase in noninterest income, and a rise in the company's net interest margin from 1.43% a year earlier to 1.80%. "We are starting to witness the results of the execution of our business plan, shown by the significant improvement in our fundamentals experienced in the first quarter," said Glen R. Wakeman, president and chief executive officer of Doral Financial. The company has been struggling since 2006, when it signed consent orders with the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico restricting dividend payments and requiring the submission of plans to maintain capital adequacy. The orders arose from Doral's restatement of earnings for 2000-2004 to correct the accounting for mortgage loan sales and the valuation of interest-only strips. Doral can be found online at http://www.doralfinancial.com.

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. Among the largest 100 markets in the country, CoreLogic reported that the five with the highest risk are: Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.; Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, Calif.; Stockton, Calif.; and Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla. "As of March 2008, 33 states were experiencing year-over-year house price declines, up from 28 states in February, demonstrating how quickly home price declines appear to be spreading," the company reported. CoreLogic, a provider of mortgage risk assessment and fraud prevention systems, can be found on the Web at http://www.facorelogic.com.

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. The company's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report indicates that foreclosure filings -- default notices, auction sale notices, and bank repossessions -- were reported on 243,353 properties in April. "The total number of U.S. properties with foreclosure activity in April was the highest monthly total we've seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive officer. "Although only about 2% of households nationwide are in foreclosure, these properties contribute to already-bloated inventories of homes for sale and put downward pressure on home values." The company said California, Florida, and Ohio recorded the highest foreclosure rates in April. RealtyTrac can be found online at http://www.realtytrac.com.