ratings agencies

News that Moody's cut Greece's credit rating to Ba1 from A3 is encouraging the market to do what it was already doing and that is paring the euro's earlier sharp gains.   This was a four notch downgrade, which reflects the…

Charlie Gasparino rips Warren Buffett for his stance on the ratings agencies and their role in creating the financial crisis. Here's the money quote: He believes that a sleazy business and it makes a lot of money so he's gonna own…

The following is an hour-long speech Nouriel Roubini recently gave based on his new book Crisis Economics–A Crash Course in the Future of Finance (Penguin Press, 2010). This is probably the most complete framing of the credit crisis by…

Highlights The US dollar was mostly firmer vs. the majors.  EUR/USD made a marginal new low for the cycle at 1.2111, helped by rumors about France (see below) but then spiked higher during North American trading before closing lower…

Win Thin of Brown Brothers Harriman is out with a note, remarking on the Eurozone contagion now moving to the core.  Questions about France and a potential ratings downgrade are now circulating. Thin says: France is coming under…

This comes via Win Thin at Brown Brothers Harriman: Fitch downgraded Spain to AA+ from AAA and inexplicably with a stable outlook.  Stable?  Spain should be downgraded multiple notches.  This comes a few weeks after…

Moody's is going on a rampage regarding the sovereign debt of the Eurozone periphery. They are now reviewing Portugal and Spain for a potential ratings downgrade. That means they are threatening Greece with junk status and also warning that…

While Warren Buffett is out tarnishing his reputation with quotes about how "phenomenal" the ratings agencies' business model is, Bill Gross is accusing them of aiding and abetting the financial crisis. Here's a quote from Bill…

According to a once famous statement by the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, a week can often be a long time in politics. But when it comes to financial market crises the situation often feels more like a line from the Dinah Washington…

This is a list of all the credit ratings available on sovereign debt from all three big credit rating agencies, Fitch, Moody's and S&P.