Wednesday, March 14, 2007

How Now My Moo Moo Cow?

What about the mortgage defaults? Potential damage?

Well, here's a news article posted on Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avLcIK2vDO3Q&refer=home

  • March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Mortgage defaults over the next two years may climb to $225 billion, probably not enough to be a drag on the U.S. economy, according to debt strategists at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

    The forecast, based on an assumption of flat home prices, compares with about $40 billion annually in 2005 and 2006, according to a report today by analysts led by Srinivas Modukuri at Lehman, whose fixed-income research team has been ranked first by Institutional Investor magazine for seven straight years. Defaults may rise to $300 billion if home prices fall and tighter lending standards keep borrowers from refinancing, they wrote.

    Investors are growing concerned that surging delinquencies on the riskiest mortgages will the cause the economy to weaken, hurting other assets. About $170 billion of the defaults would stem from so-called subprime mortgages, which now total $1.2 trillion, New York-based Lehman said.



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