Secondary

The CMBS market appears to be looking up performance-wise, but there may be less of it in terms of outstandings, and despite stronger originations, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.

Nationstar Mortgage and an affiliate company, Newcastle Investment Corp., have agreed to acquire roughly $63 billion in mortgage servicing rights from Aurora Bank FSB, a subsidiary of the bankrupt Lehman Bros.

Bank of America issued just $7.9 billion of GNMA-backed MBS in the fourth quarter, a 71% plunge from the same period in 2010, according to new figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

Fannie Mae said Monday it has taken its first step in providing additional loan-level disclosures by releasing a series of at-issuance data.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions told leaders of the Senate Banking Committee last week that the credit union industry, which is emerging as one of the most important players in the home loan market, is opposed to any mortgage reforms that would include elimination of the federal guarantee on loans sold on the secondary market currently through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A federal judge has ordered the former CEO of Brookstreet Securities Corp. to pay a maximum $10 million penalty in a securities fraud case related to the financial crisis.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities special servicers have increased their activity over the past two months with roughly $3.7 billion in newly modified loans, according to an FTN Financial report.

Bond insurer MBIA Inc. reported losses in the fourth quarter of 2011. In a report released last week, MBIA said that it had an adjusted pre-tax loss of $252 million in the fourth quarter. That compares to an adjusted pre-tax loss of $311 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.

A federal court in Newark has issued an order effectively requiring CUMIS Insurance Society to cover millions of dollars of losses suffered by Sperry Associates Federal Credit Union in the massive mortgage fraud committed by U.S. Mortgage and its CU National Mortgage unit.

PennyMac's Stanford L. Kurland has taken his share of criticism for helping to start the financial crisis. Now he is singing the praises of the government's latest attempt to fix it.