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’Rollover is all, Moody’s fears for Portugal edition
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Dec 21 08:45. Comment.Have you noticed? There’s something (other than an unusual frequency) about recent Moody’s ratings actions on eurozone peripheral sovereigns.
They’re all increasingly focused on whether the sovereigns can actually maintain market access in the first place, More…
The SEC and the end of credit ratings in ABS
Posted by Cardiff Garcia on Nov 24 20:24. Comment.Perhaps a bit of a rewind would be helpful towards understanding the significance of the SEC’s decision to indefinitely allow ABS issuance without the previously required ratings disclosures.
Remember all the kerfuffle earlier this year over Rule 436(g)? That was the provision in the Securities Act of 1933 that protected rating agencies against “expert liability”. More…
Rating Europe’s sovereigns, the polite way
Posted by Jennifer Thompson on Nov 05 15:30. Comment.Just as eurozone peripherals are wobbling, it’s a timely moment to take a look at what the European Commission is saying as it launches consultation on credit rating agencies.
Including some thoughts on the creation of a new European CRA — which might even, More…
S&P no longer negative on Britain’s AAA
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Oct 26 12:00. Comment.More good news for the UK / One for the credit rating nerds, this.
Standard & Poor’s has affirmed the UK’s AAA credit rating (yawn). However, the agency’s also altered its outlook from negative to stable. More…
Kill the old, AAA-rated edition
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Oct 08 16:48. Comment.Imagine a financial system without a single AAA-rated sovereign:
Then read Standard & Poor’s latest report on global ageing, which uses exactly that scenario to warn governments before it starts chopping up their credit ratings in the coming decades. More…
Read my lips: no more ratings
Posted by Guest writer on Sep 22 09:15. Comment.Lisa Pollack, credit data analyst at Markit, takes a closer look at the Dodd-Frank reform bill and its implications for credit ratings.
Relax, take a deep breath, and imagine a world without credit ratings. More…
Europe’s SPV is Aaa, says Moody’s (phew)
Posted by Izabella Kaminska on Sep 20 08:59. Comment.H/T to our FT colleague Anousha Sakoui, for directing us to what appears to be the first official rating for the European Financial Stability Facility –courtesy of Moody’s on Monday.
The rating agency has awarded the facility– as was largely expected and intended by European policymakers — a provisional Aaa rating. More…
Fitch catches the BP knife
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Sep 08 11:16. Comment.Fitch had a present for BP ahead of the oil giant’s publication of its internal inquiry into the Macondo explosion – raising its rating back to A from BBB, having downgraded at the height of the oil spill crisis. More…
Uncertainty at the (CDS) margin
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Aug 11 16:30. Comment.Newsflash! Agency specialising in credit ratings says credit derivatives might not factor in fundamentals properly. Compared to… err, credit ratings, perhaps.
But Fitch Ratings did have some intriguing points to make about CDS margins on Wednesday. More…
S&P to Dagong (and Moody’s): It’s on
Posted by Cardiff Garcia on Aug 04 16:34. Comment.When the chair of Chinese ratings agency Dagong Global Credit first lashed out at his Western rivals, FT Alphaville promised to keep watch over any new developments.
Guan Jianzhong had accused American agencies of being “politicised and highly ideological,” More…
Iberian bank rating tea-leaves
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Jul 14 15:40. Comment.Ahead of the European bank stress tests, here’s a couple of more-interesting-than-usual rating actions centring on financial institutions in Spain and Portugal.
Although there’s been a low-grade rumour in the market of Fitch downgrading the sovereign itself (again? Fitch cut from AAA to AA+ in May). More…
Moody’s cuts Portugal to A1, markets shrug [updated]
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Jul 13 08:56. Comment.Moody’s cut Portugal’s sovereign debt by two notches to A1 from AA2 on Tuesday — but European markets seemed rather relaxed about it.
The rating agency explained its downgrade thus:
Moody’s believes that the Portuguese government’s financial strength will continue to weaken over the medium term, More…
Fitch resurrects Argentina’s credit rating
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Jul 12 17:03. Comment.Fitch raised the credit rating of Argentina — the butt of arguments over the dangers of sovereign default since 2001 — from default to ‘B’ on Monday.
As the rating agency explained in its statement: More…
Spanish risk: let’s get regional, redux
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Jul 01 14:16. Comment.An interesting coda to Moody’s warning of a possible downgrade of Spain’s sovereign debt on Wednesday.
On Thursday the rating agency went after Spain’s regions — five of them.
As Moody’s said in its release: More…
[UK Austerity Budget] Ratings agencies react
Posted by Neil Hume on Jun 22 16:50. Comment.The rating agencies are beginning to respond to Tuesday’s ‘unavoidable Budget’ in Britain.
Via Reuters:
LONDON-UK EMERGENCY BUDGET COMPLEX, WILL HAVE TO ANALYSE DETAILS BEFORE DECIDING ON UK RATING -S&P OFFICIAL
No clues there as to whether S&P will retain its negative outlook on the UK. More…
‘Fitch is concerned…’
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Jun 08 11:21. Comment.Fitch moves in, um, mysterious ways.
On Tuesday it attacked the UK government’s fiscal projections as contained in the 2010 budget — sorry, the previous government, and the previous budget before June 22′s emergency version, More…
Fitch downgrades a slew of Spanish banks
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Jun 01 13:59. Comment.Having cut Spain’s sovereign rating from AAA to AA+ on Friday, Fitch moved on Tuesday to adjust the ratings for a number Spanish financial institutions.
First up, Spain’s sixth-largest bank, Banco Sabadell: More…
How sovereign bonds should be rated
Posted by Izabella Kaminska on May 24 15:33. Comment.What happens when you attempt to derive the value of sovereign bonds as indicated by their credit default swap levels? Standard Chartered have tried to find out.
Their so-called regression analysis looks at rated sovereigns with five-year CDS outstanding, More…
The world according to Fitch
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on May 18 15:56. Comment.Fun with Fitch on Tuesday, as the rating agency published its first Credit Outlook for the world economy overall — effectively a handy digest of its ‘ratings universe’.
Sovereign debt looms large, as could be expected. More…
The EU’s very own AAA SPV
Posted by Tracy Alloway on May 17 10:30. Comment.Or, how many acronyms can we fit in a single headline?
Part of the European Union’s bailout package involves setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to make funds available to eurozone countries that need them. More…
The incredible quantum credit rating
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on May 11 18:45. Comment.Well, here’s an intriguingly self-reflexive comment from Moody’s.
No, it’s not a comment on its tanking share price or that Wells notice.
Instead, on Monday the rating agency looked back on the performance of its sovereign credit ratings during Europe’s debt crisis. More…
Resistance is futile
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on May 11 14:34. Comment.Curiously Borg-like language from EU internal markets commissioner Michel Barnier on Tuesday, as things went all regulator post that-rescue package.
Flashes, via Reuters, emphasis FT Alphaville’s:
RTRS-EU’S BARNIER SAYS EU MINISTERS WILL DELIBERATE NEW REGULATIONS ON HEDGE FUNDS IN A FEW DAYS, More…
So, has the UK voted for a downgrade?
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on May 07 12:01. Comment.Gilt futures cut losses on Friday after a mild panic over the emergence of a hung parliament — first as a possible Conservative-led coalition firmed up, and then as rating agencies soothed concerns that the UK’s AAA credit is in doubt. More…
Greek collateral damage (after all)
Posted by Izabella Kaminska on Apr 29 14:39. Comment.A lot of attention has focused on what might happen if and when Greek sovereign debt is downgraded below the ECB’s minimum collateral collateral acceptance level.
But as BNP Paribas pointed out on Thursday, More…
Britain’s Conservatives go for the Fitch vote
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Apr 13 16:14. Comment.Britain faces an… interesting challenge over its fiscal deficit and sovereign debt in 2010, not to mention the reforms awaiting the City after May’s election.
We’ve therefore already covered the UK Labour party’s election pitch for financial and fiscal reform. More…
Speaking of Portugal and sovereign risk: a downgrade
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Mar 24 10:26. Comment.Breaking — Fitch downgraded Portugal’s long-term default ratings from AA to AA- on Wednesday, with Outlook Negative.
Highlights from the ratings agency’s press release follow (our emphasis):
Fitch Ratings-London-24 March 2010: More…
Yield junkies — ever more hooked on muni bonds
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Mar 10 15:42. Comment.FT Alphaville rather liked this comment from Barry Ritholtz on emerging signs (well, screaming fire alarms) of a US municipal junk bond bubble:
One of the factors that caused the great credit crisis to spread far and wide was the “reach for yield.” This is one of the most expensive ways a fixed income investor can obtain a higher potential return on their bond investments. More…
The European Central Bank gets Moody
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Mar 03 12:38. Comment.Well, this would certainly sex up the ECB’s reputation for greyness: turn the Bank into Europe’s very own sovereign ratings agency.
But would it do anything to keep the Moody’s wolves from Greece’s door?
From Wednesday morning’s Handelsblatt: More…
Credit rating cliff risk
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Feb 10 12:39. Comment.On Tuesday, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut its outlook on Bank of America and Citigroup to “negative.” Counterparty ratings for both banks are currently set at `A’ by S&P.
The jump from the A bracket to B and below is an important one in the US. More…
Moody’s chimes in on the Volcker rule
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jan 28 11:02. Comment.We’ve had plenty of analyst reaction on the Volcker rule, but we’ve yet to see any set-pieces from the ratings agencies. So it’s with much interest that we read a compendium of Moody’s comment on financial market reform — including the Volcker rule, More…