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’CMBS then and now, and in 2006 to 2008
Bored of US commercial real estate yet?
Not us. Nor, it seems, are the ratings agencies.
Standard & Poor’s issued its latest quarterly report on US commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) late on Friday.
S&P and Fitch to Dubai: ‘not so fast…’
Ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch have issued responses to Dubai’s surprise repayment of the now infamous $4.1bn Nakheel sukuk.
And just in case the emirate was labouring under any misconceptions,
New S&P index does dollar weakness with gold
Is this the start of a deluge of retail investor-oriented financial products looking to cash in on gold mania and a potential dollar crisis?
From Standard & Poor’s on Thursday:
Standard & Poor’s Launches S&P 500 Gold Hedged Index
Index to Serve as the Basis for new UBS Investment Products
LONDON,
UBS: still a ‘below average’ bank
Standard & Poor’s triggered something of brouhaha when it published a 22-page report comparing global banks’ risk-adjusted capital (RAC) adequacy.
The report found that several of the world’s biggest banks — including UBS and Citi — fell well short of what S&P considered to be the benchmark that “corresponds to full coverage of the level of stress embedded in our ratio.”
S&P reverses on its “UBS is below average” bank capital model claim
Oh dear. Just four months months after its widely criticised flip-flop on CMBS ratings, Standard & Poor’s has managed to tie itself into a fresh series of knots.
The rating agency is now backpedalling on its assessment of UBS. Specifically,
UBS is not a “below average” bank
Swiss bank UBS has responded to Monday’s report from Standard & Poor’s, which you may recall ranked 45 of the world’s leading banks according to their risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratios.
By S&P’s reckoning,
Debt and the dollar’s demise, a compendium of concerns
Here’s a stark reminder of the ticking time bomb that is the US’s federal debt — now at an $11,900bn, or $38,000 per citizen.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is now warning that the US will have to officially — and imminently — raise its federal debt limit:
FDIC, the ‘D’ stands for…
Here’s an interesting thought — what with all the recent concern over FDIC funding. Could the organisation, responsible for insuring US bank deposits, start seizing securitised assets to help offset the cost of a multitude of failed financial institutions?
From Asset-Backed Alert:
Kraft’s credit
Can Kraft afford to raise its £10.2bn offer for Cadbury, and if so, by how much?
It is a question we have been asking since the approach was revealed on Monday morning and the following was disclosed:
S&P’s covered bond flip-flop?
What’s this?
Another flip-flop — albeit a more protracted one than that on CMBS — on the horizon from ratings agency Standard & Poor’s?
Recall that the agency announced in February that it wanted to change its methodology for rating covered bonds.
Devil’s in the details for defaults
An interesting report is out from Standard & Poor’s on Friday, entitled “The Devil is in the Details: Understanding the Variation in Corporate Default Rates and Rating Transitions.” Now doesn’t that sound exciting?
(Ahem)
The thrust of the piece is that while it’s obvious global corporate default rates increase overall in times of crisis,
Sportonomics – Manchester United edition
From Standard & Poor’s. Emphasis ours:
Manchester United term debt was better bid today after the company confirmed it had received a world-record £80 million offer for footballer Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.
Rating the first amendment
Floyd Abrams is defending the rating agencies.
Since time immemorial (well, Enron’s collapse) the rating agencies have steeled themselves against accusations of bias and mis-rating with a powerful defence:
Daily Mail – junk
Not our opinion, naturally.
LONDON (Standard & Poor’s) April 23, 2009–Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today that it lowered to ‘BB+’ from ‘BBB-’ its long-term corporate credit rating on U.K.-based newspaper and media group Daily Mail & General Trust PLC (DMGT).