Article: Secondary insurance for New York City becomes, rare, more expensive species. (Ambac Indemnity Corp.'s prices for secondary market bond insurance)

Behind the scenes of yesterday's $995 million New York City general obligation debt sale was a brief and intense struggle over secondary market bond insurance.

Secondary insurance, an immensely profitable trading strategy, is being swamped by overwhelming demand, particularly from owners of high-volume credits such as New York City. The insurance industry is bursting at the seams with exposure to the city and, at this point, can back only small pieces at a time.

Last Friday, AMBAC Indemnity Corp. notified the market that it would sell insurance for $50 million of yesterday's borrowing. This "capacity," as the insurers call it, was sold within 45 ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!