Behind Wall Street's subprime fear index

The formerly obscure ABX index has become a closely watched gauge of just how bad the market for subprime securities is getting.

Uncertain future
Uncertain future
The next series of the ABX is slated for January. But since subprime securitization has practically dried up since the summer, there is some uncertainty over whether a series will be issued next year.

"As it stands now, there aren't 20 bonds that would qualify to be in the next index - and it doesn't look like there are that many more that are going to be issued," Dan Castro, managing director at GSC Group, said.

Even if the ABX starts to track fewer - or smaller - deals, some market participants say the index is already becoming irrelevant now that the surge in subprime lending has ended.

The ABX

Hedging a bet

What's in a name

More drama

On the horizon

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.