Moody’s Wall Street Analytics said Thursday that its cashflow analytics platform, Structured Finance Workstation, has been expanded to offer an extensive library of cashflow waterfalls and loan-level data to meet the needs of structured finance market participants. “The addition of the waterfall and loan-level data library to the Structured Finance Workstation will allow fixed income [...]

Prospects for home builders dimmed in the back half of April and into early May amid market conditions that continue to erode, the National Association of Homebuilders said Thursday. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell slightly to a reading of 19, off just one point from the record low set in December 2007. NAHB president [...]

ISGN Technologies, Ltd., a mortgage technology provider, said Thursday that it is re-branding its flagship origination platforms MortgageHub and Dynatek, along with other companies owned by the Pennsylvania-based firm. The company said it will pursue a so-called unified branding strategy, renaming MortgageHub and Dynatek as ISGN; the company’s offshoring platform, Inuva, and its doc prep/fulfillment [...]

After a blistering take on what he called a “vulture mentality” among servicers last week, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) on Wednesday urged the Federal Trade Commission to open an investigation into “an emerging of pattern of apparent misconduct by Countrywide Financial Corporation involving its behavior with regard to debtors during bankruptcy.” Critics allege that Countrywide Financial [...]

A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Tuesday that a shareholder lawsuit against executives and officers at Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC: 4.94, -0.60%) can continue to trial, an outcome that many in the industry see as potential precedent for future litigation. The plaintiffs in the case, including numerous pension funds that have seen their investment [...]

Mortgage rates fell only slightly last week, accoding to a weekly survey release Thursday morning by Freddie Mac (FRE: 26.97, -1.10%). The average rate fo a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 4 basis points to 6.01 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ended May 15, down from one week earlier when it [...]

The Washington Post’s George Will turns the rhetoric of “predatory lending” onto its head in a Thursday column: Perhaps some lenders who were lied to were culpably indifferent to dishonesty because they planned to sell to others mortgages that the lenders knew were risky. But the victimization narrative that is turning turbulence in the housing market [...]

The Senate Banking Committee is set to tackle proposed housing legislation on Thursday, and a key Democratic lawmaker said this morning that a deal with Republicans was nearing fruition. Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) told the press Thursday morning that a deal was “very close” during an interview on Fox Business Network; last second negotiations [...]

This is going to be a very personal BuzzPost. HedgeWorld ran a great story yesterday on what it means to work as a member of the press that focused on hedge funds — as publisher of HW, I wanted to call attention to it here, because I think it makes an important point. From the HedgeWorld story: I [...]

Omni Financial Services, Inc. (OFSI: 1.15, +4.55%) said Wednesday afternoon that it would delay filing its first quarter earnings as the small community banking company continues to struggle with the financial effects of a surge in real-estate owned inventory. The Atlanta-based company, which is the parent to Omni National Bank, has yet to file [...]