The CMC letter follows one sent last night by 15 housing and mortgage-related trade groups to Acting FHFA Director Edward DeMarco, asking him not to lower the GSE loan limit, while questioning the legality of such a change.

While standardization was the focus of jumbo investors, perhaps the bigger concern for participants is that most investors said they were looking to buy almost anything other than new jumbo MBS.

Among other things, the Federal Home Loan Banks want to maintain their ability to securitize residential mortgages for their members.

What if the U.S. government actually defaults on its debt – what would that do to the value of MBS and Treasuries held on the balance sheet of banks? You may not want to know the answer.

Peters Sack of Credit Suisse said the bank portfolio bid is currently much stronger than the economics for issuing jumbo MBS.

As usual, the Federal Housing Finance Agency provided as little detail as possible in its new disclosures on the common securitization platform.

The Supreme Court's decision sends the defendant banks back to federal district court where they will be able to appeal at a later date should an adverse ruling directly affect them.

Some lenders have vowed to close loans without IRS verifications, filling the void by asking for additional and in-depth documentation – but only on retail-sources mortgages.

An assistant at CashCall tries to clear the air on the lender's sale. Meanwhile, the USDA mortgage program is dead, for now.

Industry advisors and lobbyists hope they can move the implementation date for lower GSE loan limits deep into the second quarter, but they also realize they cannot forestall it completely.