Took a quick look at the CMBX indices and spreads are still extremely high. They blew out when Henry Paulson changed his mind on how he was going to use the funds from TARP. When it became clear the government was going to buy troubled assets--which would have included CMBS bonds--spreads expanded. They seemed to recover a bit, but yesterday REIT stocks got pummeled losing 20 percent of their value. Simultaneously, CMBX spreads are rising again.
Here's a chart of just one of the components--the CMBX-NA-AAA 5--to give you a sense of what the spike looks like. Keep in mind that the AAA piece is one of the least risky parts of the index. The spread is 783 basis points--up from a low of about 100 basis points. On some of the BB indices spreads are over 4,500 basis points.
