S&P Eyes 17 CDO of ABS Classes

Seventeen tranches from eight transactions of U.S. cash-flow and hybrid collateralized debt obligations of asset-backed securities have been placed on CreditWatch with negative implications by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.The actions followed the downgrade of 418 classes of U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities backed by closed-end second-lien mortgage collateral. The exposure of the CDOs placed on CreditWatch to the downgraded RMBS ranges from 6.6% to 14.2% of collateral assets, S&P said. All but one of the affected CDOs were issued during 2006. Two of the eight are high-grade structured finance CDOs of ABS (collateralized at origination primarily by AAA, AA, and up to 30% A rated tranches of RMBS and other structured-finance securities), and the remaining six are mezzanine CDOs of ABS, collateralized largely by A and BBB rated tranches of RMBS and other structured-finance securities, the rating agency said.