Mortgage Loan Losses Continue to Rise

from WSJ:
The Federal Home Loan Banks, still struggling with soured investments in mortgage securities, reported a combined net loss of $165 million for the third quarter.
The loss reflected write-downs totaling $1.04 billion in the value of private-label mortgage-backed securities. Such securities, which generally were packaged and sold by Wall Street firms, aren't backed by any U.S. government entity.