Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the ratings of 184 tranches from 19 deals issued by Sequoia Mortgage Trust between 2002 and 2004, citing continuing deterioration in prime jumbo pools securitized before 2005.
The ratings of about $1.5 billion in securities are affected. The collateral backing the deals consists primarily of first-lien, adjustable-rate prime jumbo residential mortgages.
Moody’s said it also is reinstating and adjusting the rating on one tranche from the Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2004-1 transaction, which it had previously withdrawn when it had incorrectly assumed it had been paid off.
In addition the rating agency said it adjusted the ratings on two classes from the Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2004-12 transaction to correctly reflect the collateral pool for them. One class is a resecuritization of a portion of a class from another transaction and the other is an interest-only tranche linked to it. An earlier ratings move did not correctly account for the collateral pool for these tranches.
