Home equity loan CDS surges

New angles

Trading volumes in a niche area of the credit derivatives market involving credit default swaps (CDSs) on tranches of home equity loan (HEL) asset-backed securities (ABSs) have exploded. "Trading activity has increased dramatically since the end of the third quarter, and hedge funds account for a lot of that increase," says Michael Koss, an ABS research analyst in the securitised strategy group at Lehman Brothers in New York. Dealers estimate that the net supply of CDSs into the US market si