Thornburg Hit With Margin Calls; Stock Plunges

Super-jumbo lender Thornburg Mortgage of Santa Fe, N.M., saw its stock plunge 46% on Tuesday after research firms raised concerns about its liquidity.Credit Suisse analyst Moshe Orenbuch cited "heightened concerns surrounding liquidity at the company" in connection with his downgrade to "underperform." In a research note, the analyst wrote: "As a result of rising funding costs, margin calls on its short-term funding instruments and the deleveraging of its balance sheet, we expect TMA will have to cut its dividend significantly." (TMA is Thornburg's stock symbol.) According to the Quarterly Data Report, the publicly traded real estate investment trust ranks 38th among residential funders. Its stock closed at $7.58, down 46% on the day, reaching a new 52-week low. Its 52-week high is $28.40.