Mortgage Lenders Fall a Third Day as Defaults Rise By Elizabeth Hester and Shannon D. Harrington Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Countrywide Financial Corp. and New Century Financial Corp. led shares of mortgage companies down for a third day as rising defaults drove the perceived risk of owning bonds backed by ``subprime'' loans to a record high. Shares of Irvine, California-based New Century, the second- largest company that specializes in lending to people with low credit ratings, fell $1.01, or 5.5 percent, to $17.21 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Countrywide, based in Calabasas, California and the nation's biggest home lender, fell $1.37, or 3.3 percent, to $40.84. Subprime loans that have gone bad are at the highest level in at least six years, according to a Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group report. The U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association said payments were late on almost 13 percent of subprime loans in the third quarter of 2006, and Bear Stearns Cos. President Warren Spector predicted last week problems will get still worse this year. ``There's just a lot of uncertainty,'' said Richard Eckert, an analyst at Los Angeles-based Roth Capital Partners. ``The market reacts a lot more hostilely to uncertainty than it does to bad news.'' Shares of other subprime specialty lenders including Fieldstone Investment Corp. and Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. each slid more than 5 percent during the day. Shares of NovaStar Financial Inc. dropped 2.4 percent. Investors have sheared more than 40 percent this year from the value of New Century, NovaStar and Fieldstone, with the latter plunging 78 percent in one year. Countrywide shares have slipped about 3.8 percent in 2007, and IndyMac Bancorp Inc., the second-biggest independent mortgage lender, tumbled 19.4 percent. New Century said Feb. 7 it probably lost money in the last quarter and will need to restate 2006 earnings, and the company won't make as many loans this year as it previously forecast. Accredited Home is scheduled to report earnings Wednesday. Rising Risks The perceived risk of owning subprime mortgage bonds rose to a record for a third day, as measured by an index of credit- default swaps tied to the bonds. The ABX index of 20 BBB- rated bonds sold in the second half of 2006 fell to 83.35 from 85.22 on Feb. 9, according to Markit Group Ltd. The level is the lowest since the index was created Jan. 18, and stands 14 percent below the end of its first day of trading, according to data compiled by Markit Group Ltd. ``It seems a little overdone,'' said Marcus Klug, managing director of Omicron, a unit of Credit Agricole SA, France's second-biggest bank by assets. Klug's fund manages 2.5 billion euros of CDOs and mortgage-backed securities. The perceived risk of owning Countrywide's bonds rose to the highest in more than three months. The cost of credit-default swaps based on $10 million of its bonds rose to $36,000 from $29,000 on Feb. 9, according to derivatives broker Phoenix Partners Group in New York. An increase in the contracts, used to speculate on a company's ability to repay its debt, indicates deterioration in the perception of credit quality. The contracts have risen 57 percent from $23,000 on Feb. 7, Phoenix data show.
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