RSS feedsovereign ratings
’Ireland’s Aa2 – and Nama’s – on review at Moody’s
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Oct 05 08:08. Comment.Oh dear.
Less than a week after the Irish Finance Ministry unveiled its plans for the banking system, doth Moody’s strike. The credit rating agency says it will undertake a review of the country’s Aa2 rating — and that of its National Asset Management Agency — which could lead to a downgrade, More…
Moody’s strips Spain of its last AAA
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Sep 30 08:10. Comment.Just breaking — some early morning sovereign stress for Spain.
Moody’s, the last major rating agency to rate Spain at triple-A, has downgraded the country to Aa1. Standard & Poor’s and Fitch already have it at the AA level. More…
Ireland, Portugal market-implied ratings take a tumble
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Sep 27 09:01. Comment.Ireland and Portugal’s ratings fell a notch last week — at least, according to bond markets. Credit rating agency Moody’s says the bond market-implied ratings of both countries fell from Baa3 to Ba1. Ireland’s CDS-implied ratings also dropped a notch, More…
About that Irish downgrade
Posted by Neil Hume on Aug 27 10:23. Comment.So what was really behind Ireland’s furious reaction to this week’s S&P downgrade?
Did a looming refinancing of government guaranteed bank debt play a part?
We know that a big chunk of government-guaranteed Irish bank debt is set to expire in September. More…
Submerging Ireland: S&P cuts to AA- from AA
Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on Aug 24 22:20. Comment.Oh dear. Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday night downgraded Ireland’s sovereign rating by one notch to AA-.
The rating agency said its outlook for the country was negative, noting the cost of supporting the ailing Irish banking sector would “further weaken [Ireland's] financial flexibility.” More…
A Chinese rating agency critique
Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on Jul 21 19:04. Comment.The head of Dagong Global Credit, China’s largest rating agency, is not best pleased with his western rivals.
In an interview with the FT, the agency’s chairman Guan Jianzhong didn’t mince words about the likes of Moody’s, More…
Sovereign/Securitisation/Stop
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jul 21 11:20. Comment.As goes the sovereign rating . . .
London, 13 July 2010 — Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded Portugal’s government bond ratings to A1 from Aa2.
So go the bank ratings . . .
Madrid, July 14, More…
Moody’s has a Monday morning downgrade for Ireland
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jul 19 08:10. Comment.Can we blame Moody’s Monday downgrade of Ireland — from Aa1 to Aa2 — on this man?
July 18 (Reuters) – Ireland may not have the political will to bring its budget deficit in line with EU rules as planned by 2014, More…
What should Portugal really be rated?
Posted by Neil Hume on Jul 13 10:36. Comment.What then to make of Moody’s decision to cut its rating on Portugal by two notches to A1?
Perhaps unsurprisingly not a lot.
The view in the market is that Moody’s, which has a new sovereign team, 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…
Sovereign ratings made in China
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jul 13 08:10. Comment.Ever wondered what sovereign ratings might look like?
You know, the kind of ratings that China president Hu Jintao might have had in mind when he called for a more accurate ratings system at last month’s G20 meeting? Well, 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…
Moody’s on Spain: It’s not Portugal, and it’s not Greece
Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on Jul 01 08:15. Comment.On Wednesday, Moody’s warned that it was reviewing Spain’s sovereign rating for possible downgrade. FT Alphaville spoke to Kristin Lindow and Naomi Richman, senior vice presidents with the rating agency’s sovereign group. More…
Moody’s warns on Spain’s triple-A
Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on Jun 30 19:36. Comment.On April 28, Fitch stripped the Kingdom of Spain of its triple-A rating. Standard & Poor’s followed 30 days later with a downgrade from AA+ to AA, having kicked the Kingdom off its untouchable triple-A pedestal back in January 2009. More…
The ConDem-Fitch Connection
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jun 09 09:51. Comment.George Osborne foreshadowed next Monday’s announcement of new government economic forecasts on Tuesday by saying growth alone would not bring borrowing back into line.
“Getting over a £156bn deficit is not so easy,” the chancellor said, More…
Send for the Kevlar vest
Posted by Neil Hume on Jun 08 10:31. Comment.After a firmish opening, the FTSE 100 has fallen through that 5,000-point psychological level again with investor confidence seemingly shot to pieces:
Overnight, the Dow Jones had its own ‘psychological’ moment – falling to the flash crash low. More…
Europe’s grim sovereign-bank loop
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jun 08 08:20. Comment.That’s a sudden dearth of access to capital markets for Europe’s banks, or, more accurately, debt issued by European financials — as shown in the chart above, courtesy of Deutsche Bank’s fixed income team. More…
CDS report: volatility returns
Posted by FT Alphaville on Jun 01 17:20. Comment.After the long weekend in the UK and the US, the markets resumed the volatility that has plagued them in recent times. Spreads opened wider and the credit and equity markets capitulated through the morning with risk aversion again on the rise. 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…
The Spanish waterfall
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jun 01 08:43. Comment.Along with Fitch’s Friday downgrade of Spain’s sovereign ratings, came this lesser-noted mark-down:
Fitch Takes Rating Action on CDOs Guaranteed by Spain
Fitch Ratings-London-28 May 2010: Fitch Ratings More…
Bonfire of the sovereign ratings: Fitch strips Spain of its triple-A
Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on May 28 17:45. Comment.US stocks moved sharply lower and the euro slid against the dollar after Fitch downgraded the Kingdom of Spain to AA+ from AAA on Friday.
Here’s the statement, emphasis FT Alphaville’s:
Fitch Ratings-London-28 May 2010: More…
Forget the wolf pack, the ECB hates the herd leaders
Posted by Tracy Alloway on May 14 10:09. Comment.What is it with the ECB and animal analogies?
European Central Bank executive board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi is angry at the “herd leaders” — mostly published analysts — and the “wolf pack” markets that follow them. More…
‘UK votes for downgrade’ (updated)
Posted by Tracy Alloway on May 07 10:13. Comment.The results are in and . . . in the words of BNP Paribas: the UK may just have voted for a downgrade.
The results of Britain’s general election, at pixel-time, look like this:
That looks like it will leave the Conservatives with less than a majority of seats — in other words a hung parliament — just what markets had said they were fearing. More…
Moody’s does eurozone bank contagion
Posted by Tracy Alloway on May 06 11:15. Comment.Moody’s has generally lagged behind the rest of the rating agencies when it comes to downgrading the weaker countries of the eurozone. Here, perhaps, is its attempt to catch up.
On Thursday the agency published a note on sovereign contagion and the banking systems of six European countries — the first of a special two-parter. More…
The Grεεk nεgαtivε bαsis trαdε
Posted by Tracy Alloway on May 06 09:00. Comment.‘Greek’ and ‘negative basis trade’ used in the same sentence gives us the shivers.
But here you go. From Barclays Capital’s latest European Credit Alpha note:
Figure 2 [below] plots the 5y CDS minus the asset swap spread for various European sovereigns. More…
Britain’s very own AA-rating rumours
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Apr 29 09:40. Comment.Zipping across traders’ screens on Wednesday: whispers that the UK might be next in line for a credit rating cut.
Standard & Poor’s had this week already taken an axe to the sovereign ratings of Greece, More…
Sovereigns – you had it coming
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Apr 29 08:20. Comment.We’re being facetious of course, but the below slide, from a GLG Partners presentation, is instructive:
Full GLG briefing in the Long Room (H/T Sam Jones)
S&P downgrades Spain to AA
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Apr 28 16:38. Comment.Contagion, anyone? S&P followed Tuesday’s downgrades of Greece and Portugal with a ratings cut for the Kingdom of Spain on Wednesday. Outlook negative.
From S&P’s release:
In our opinion, Spain is likely to have an extended period of subdued economic growth, More…
Greek-out!
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Apr 08 09:34. Comment.It’s a bank run! Or at least, it’s an outflow. Is Jean-Claude Trichet watching?
The European Central Bank president is due to give what some commentators have called “one of the most important communications by the ECB in its short existence” More…
Sacrebleu! Mon rating est (encore) AAA
Posted by Izabella Kaminska on Mar 30 17:00. Comment.Hot off the ratings wire on Tuesday: Fitch has affirmed France’s sovereign rating at AAA.
Quel soulagement.
…et vive la France! (We presume.)
That said, it’s probably best not to break open the champagne just yet. More…