Wall Street is praying that the US economy will land softly now that the Federal Reserve has pricked the housing market bubble, because it will be bad news for mortgage origination if house prices stall for long or, even worse, fall. Already there are early signs of credit deterioration in some of the riskier mortgage securitizations. It can only be a matter of time before subordinated CDO tranches start to take a hit. Alex Chambers reports from New York.
Alex Chambers,
November 27, 2006