New Century bankruptcy 'imminent'

That's what the WSJ just posted, based on efforts by Morgan Stanley and Barclay's - two of the subprimer's biggest bank lenders - to take possession of the loans that were being used to secure financing and auction them off on their own. The banks have little confidence that New Century can pay them back - a little like a bank that forecloses on your house. There's been lots of speculation in the last couple of weeks - reprised by the Journal - about some sort of prepackaged bankruptcy deal, in which New Century would have a buyer lined up to purchase its assets in advance of a filing. Apparently, there are advantages for the buyer of taking that route. Anyway, it sounds like a filing is going to happen soon.