The Institutional Risk Analyst

We have enormous respect for Nierenberg and his team, but wonder why they don't make some obvious adjustments in the business model. For example, NLY has 20% of its capital in agency MSRs and focuses on agency mortgages and MBS, RITM has one of the largest MSR portfolios in the industry and yet is transitioning away from residential mortgages in pursuit of a multi-asset strategy. The result is a business profile that is a challenge to define...

As we noted some time back, whenever the pseudo conversation in Washington regarding inflation (a/k/a “affordability”) becomes difficult, the BLS and/or the Fed moves the goalposts. Just as nobody in Washington wants to talk about the budget deficit or the impending collapse of Social Security, the conversation about inflation is totally contrived and false.

In the second quarter of 2026, Morgan Stanley’s margin and other lending balances increased by $3.0 billion (or 9%) sequentially compared to the first quarter. Year-over-year, these loan balances surged by $10.3 billion (or 40%).

One reason that we believe that consumer loss rates are so low is that more aggressive lenders like HAPN and many others are ready and willing to provide unsecured financing to consumers. Given the signs of stress we see building in the private residential loan channel, we'd be more inclined to take the short side of HAPN -- especially if they are so anxious to take risk in home improvement lending.