What We're Hearing

A handful of large banks and investment banking firms currently have nonperforming loan packages in the market place. "There's at least six deals that I know of," said one hedge fund manager, requesting his name not be used. He said the packages range in size from $20 million to $30 million "and there's a few $100 million pools out there," he said. To date, banks and Wall Street firms selling their NPLs have kept a tight lid on publicity surrounding their deals. "There's really not a lot out there," said the hedge fund manager, "but compared to a few months ago it looks huge." Meanwhile, what effect, if any, will the problems of real estate developer Dubai World -- which is $59 billion in debt - have on sovereign wealth funds investing in U.S. real estate and mortgages? Will sovereign wealth funds have less money to invest here or will they view the U.S. as a safe haven? We shall see...`