A total of $223.74 billion of new non-mortgage ABS came to market in 2018, the best annual showing since the financial crisis, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside MBS & ABS.The market faltered in the fourth quarter, however, as ABS production slumped 14.9 percent to $45.05 billion. That was the lowest quarterly output since the end of 2016. [Includes two data charts.]

The department store industry faced some performance hurdles at the beginning of the year, and its troubles are likely to linger on, impacting the commercial MBS market, analysts said.

The Federal Reserve will continue to unwind its massive $4 trillion portfolio — $2.2 trillion in Treasuries, $1.64 trillion in agency MBS, and agency debt. This, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told financier David Rubenstein in a public forum at the Economics Club of Washington last week. Left unsaid is what this will mean for the agency MBS market.

Ditech investors that control a large portion of the nonbank’s “Toggle Notes” have agreed not to force the troubled lender/servicer into bankruptcy — at least for now, according to a new 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The partial federal government shutdown, now into its fourth week, is having an impact on ABS and MBS issuers that register deals with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The federal government shutdown is affecting business operations of Ginnie Mae, forcing the government guarantor to scuttle its annual summit with issuers and delaying progress on “liquidity letters.”

Wells Fargo’s second post-crisis jumbo MBS differs from the one it issued in October. The new deal is substantially larger than the previous issuance and the lineup of three rating services is somewhat different.