Dear mainstream financial media: are you trying to make Citi’s Mary Kane lose her fucking mind? Because that’s what it seems like.

“May 2nd marked the anniversary of the Loch-Ness monster legend. Science has not been able to document the creature’s existence, yet the fable perpetuates. Similarly, the media has promoted irrational nervousness about the auto lending market, with little-to-no foundation.”

Those who frequent these pages are well-versed in the ongoing auto ABS debate. See the thing is, a whole lot of people are interested in shorting subprime auto paper. With the possible exception of CMBX 6, auto ABS is at the top of the list when it comes to “the next ‘Big Short’ candidates.” One…

I want to preface this by saying that I may just be an idiot here and God knows it wouldn’t be the first time.

“…it’s not wise to believe everything you see in a movie and hit films are not the best source for trade ideas.”

“Of course, this only accounts for the direct hit to the economy. There would be incremental pain from spillovers into auto-related parts production, transportation and trade. Moreover, such weakening in auto sales would be an indication of broad-based deterioration in consumer sentiment, which could ripple through the economy.”

Longer term, the risks to these estimates are probably on the downside, especially if the “sharing economy”— exemplified by companies such as Zipcar, Uber, Lyft, and Via—makes deeper inroads into the transportation sector).

” However, the chart masks the growth of “deep subprime” lending programs, targeting borrowers with credit scores far below the 620 cutoff. For example, some recent deep subprime ABS transactions featured pools with average credit score of just 545, with 20% of borrowers not having a credit score at all, a condition known to signal high default risk.”