−Removed: Other than the following risk factors relating to the coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”), there have been no material changes to the risk factors disclosed in Item 1A.
+Added: Other than the risk factors relating to the coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) disclosed in Item 1A.
+Added: “Risk Factors” of our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, there have been no material changes to the risk factors disclosed in Item 1A.
“Risk Factors” of our most recent annual report on Form 10-K.
1 unchanged sentence
“Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in this quarterly report or our most recent annual report on Form 10-K.
−Removed: The global COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected, and will likely continue to adversely affect, the U.S.
−Removed: economy, the mortgage REIT industry and our business.
−Removed: The COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant disruptions to the U.S.
−Removed: and global economies and has contributed to volatility and negative pressure in financial markets.
−Removed: COVID-19 and the related social distancing measures have had a broad negative impact on the U.S.
−Removed: and global economies as many businesses, particularly smaller ones within the service-sector, have been forced to close, furlough and/or lay off employees.
−Removed: As a result, U.S.
−Removed: unemployment claims have dramatically risen at unprecedented rates.
−Removed: Other economic activity, including retail sales and industrial production, have slowed as well.
−Removed: Current forecasts of economic activity suggest a meaningful economic contraction in the first half of 2020, with the potential for some economic recovery later in 2020.
−Removed: However, the pace, timing and strength of any recovery are still unknown and difficult to predict.
−Removed: Beginning in the first quarter of 2020, particularly in March, COVID-19 began to adversely affect the mortgage REIT industry generally.
−Removed: In addition to negative general economic conditions, the impact of COVID-19 caused severe volatility across asset classes, including mortgage-related assets.
−Removed: In order to increase liquidity, fixed income investors were forced to sell U.S.
−Removed: Treasuries and Agency MBS, leading to an excess supply of these assets in need of redistribution.
−Removed: Pressure in financing markets and the need to meet margin obligations (particularly in the mortgage REIT industry in connection with repurchase financing obligations) created additional selling pressure in U.S.
−Removed: Treasury and Agency MBS markets, and widening of credit spreads.
−Removed: Other markets, including the market for residential credit and commercial real estate securities, also experienced similar trends, albeit on a relatively lesser scale.
−Removed: The conditions related to COVID-19 discussed above have also adversely affected our business and we expect these conditions to continue during 2020.
−Removed: The significant decrease in economic activity and/or resulting decline in the housing market could have an adverse effect on the value of our investments in mortgage real estate-related assets, particularly residential real estate assets.
−Removed: In addition, as interest rates continue to decline as a result of demand for U.S.
−Removed: Treasury securities and the activities of the Federal Reserve, prepayments on our assets are likely to increase due to refinancing activity, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
−Removed: Further, in light of COVID-19’s impact on the overall economy, such as rising unemployment levels or changes in consumer behavior related to loans as well as government policies and pronouncements, borrowers may experience difficulties meeting their obligations or seek to forbear payment on or refinance their mortgage loans to avail themselves of lower rates.
−Removed: Elevated levels of delinquency or default would have an adverse impact on the value of our mortgage real estate related-assets.
−Removed: In addition to residential mortgage-related assets, the adverse economic conditions could negatively impact tenants on our commercial property assets and/or businesses in which we lend to in connection with our middle market lending activities, resulting in potential delinquencies, defaults or declines in asset values.
−Removed: To the extent current conditions persist or worsen, we expect there to be a negative effect on our results of operations, which may reduce earnings and, in turn, cash available for distribution to our stockholders.
−Removed: The continued spread of COVID-19 could also negatively impact the availability of key personnel necessary to conduct our business.
−Removed: We may also experience more difficulty in our financing operations.
−Removed: COVID-19 has caused mortgage REITs to experience severe disruptions in financing operations (including the cost, attractiveness and availability of financing), especially the ability to utilize repurchase financing and the margin requirements related to such financing.
−Removed: The less liquid markets that make up a significant portion of our credit portfolio, including residential securities and whole loans, commercial real estate securities and loans and
−Removed: ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC.
−Removed: AND SUBSIDIARIES
−Removed: middle market lending, experienced significant disruption over this crisis period, marked by a sharp retraction in volumes and a lack of access to credit for borrowers.
−Removed: If conditions related to COVID-19 persist, we could experience an unwillingness or inability of our potential lenders to provide us with or renew financing, increased margin calls, and/or additional capital requirements.
−Removed: These conditions could force us to sell our assets at inopportune times or otherwise cause us to potentially revise our strategic business initiatives, which could adversely affect our business.
−Removed: To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business and financial results, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in "Item 1A.
−Removed: Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, such as our risks related to our use of leverage, management of our liquidity, exposure to counterparties, our ability to pay dividends in the future and our ability to protect our information technology networks and infrastructure from unauthorized access, misuse, malware, phishing and other events that could have a security impact as a result of our remote working environment or otherwise.
−Removed: We cannot predict the effect that government policies, laws and plans adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and global recessionary economic conditions will have on us.
−Removed: The extent of the COVID 19-related disruptions and the duration of the pandemic are unknown at this time and may be severe.
−Removed: Governments have adopted, and we expect will continue to adopt, policies, laws and plans intended to address the COVID-19 pandemic and adverse developments in the credit, financial and mortgage markets.
−Removed: We cannot assure you that these programs will be effective or sufficient at addressing the adverse impacts of the pandemic or otherwise have a positive impact on our business.
Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.