A drop in the haircuts applied to securitizations used for collateral funding from the European Central Bank (ECB) is a positive for the sector, according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service assigned preliminary ratings of ‘AAA’/’AAA’/’Aaa’ respectively to $371.62 million of class A notes to be issued by Redwood Trust.

This latest deal totals $345.05 million and features 20 tranches, inluding exchangeable interest-only certificates.

Upgrades might be in store for some Russian residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS)

The Series 2013-1 notes are backed by a $661.425 million portfolio dubbed Trinity Rail Leasing 2012 LLC containing 7,201 railcars. This fleet portfolio also backs the $333.84 million series 2012-1 notes.

Ohio Power Company plans to issue a $267.4 million utility receivables securitization deal called Ohio Phase-In-Recovery Funding LLC.

Banco Popolare di Vicenza priced the 1.8 year, €980 million A1X tranche of Berica PMI within price guidance at 240 basis points over the three month Euribor.

Ford and Mercedes-Benz are both planning auto loan securitizations, adding a total of roughly $2.3 billion to this week’s pipeline.

General Electric Capital Corporation is prepping a $508 million securitization of equipment leases, according to a presale report by Fitch Ratings.

Sonic Corp., the drive-in restaurant chain operator, issued $155 million of notes backed by franchising revenue.

The deal, the first from the Credit Account Master Trust this year, features two classes of floating-rate notes, as well as a non-publically offered collateral interest class.

Nissan is marketing a $1 billion auto loan securitization, according to a regulatory filing.