American Banker (August 2)
“Investors were in a sour mood Wednesday after Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. government’s credit rating, but analysts expect the firm’s action to have little long-term impact on banks. The markets didn’t exactly shrug off the downgrade…. But the main point made by Fitch’s action — that the U.S. political system is messier than it used to be — is one that analysts say has long been obvious to investors.”
Tags: Analysts, Banks, Credit rating, Downgraded, Fitch, Impact, Investors, Markets, Messier, Political system, Sour mood, U.S. Government
Investment Week (October 20)
“The UK’s credit rating has been downgraded by Moody’s amid a looming economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic and the forthcoming Brexit deadline.” The UK’s sovereign debt status dropped “one notch to Aa3, from Aa2,” with the ratings agency “noting that Britain’s growth has been meaningfully weaker than expected and is likely to remain so in the future.”
Tags: Aa3, Brexit, Coronavirus, Credit rating, Deadline, Debt, Downgraded, Economic hit, Looming, Moody's, Pandemic, Sovereign, UK
Bloomberg (September 16)
Standard & Poors became the latest credit-rating company to downgrade Japan, following earlier moves by Moody’s and Fitch. “Could the Japan downgrade presage a stampede for the exits by international investors? Unlikely.” Most JGB investors are domestic “and probably won’t be concerned about the verdict of U.S. financial services companies, especially ones with the questionable reputations of the credit raters.” Japanese investors will continue to “view Japanese bonds as the ultimate safe zone.”
Tags: Credit rating, Downgrade, Fitch, Investors, Japan, JGBs, Moody's, Reputations Bonds, Safe, Standard & Poors, U.S.
New York Times (August 18)
“Brazil is in tatters. The economy is in a deepening recession.” On top of that Petrobras is facing a “massive corruption scandal” and the country’s credit rating was just downgraded by Moody’s. “In all this turbulence, it is easy to miss the good news: the fortitude of Brazil’s democratic institutions.” Specifically, “in pursuing bribery at Petrobras, federal prosecutors…have not been deterred by rank or power, dealing a blow to the entrenched culture of immunity among government and business elites.”
Tags: Brazil, Bribery, Business, Corruption, Credit rating, Democratic institutions, Downgraded, Economy, Elites, Government, Immunity, Moody's, Petrobras, Power, Prosecutors, Rank, Recession, Scandal
South China Morning Post (December 1)
Moody’s downgraded Japan’s credit rating by one notch from Aa3 for to A1. “Despite the rating cut, Moody’s noted that Japan was not in a disastrous situation.” The Post explains that “Japan, which once led the world in innovation, is facing stiff competition from emerging nations including China, while a falling number of working-age people is shrinking its tax base even as soaring ranks of seniors strain the public purse.”
Tags: China, Competition, Credit rating, Downgrade, Emerging nations, Innovation, Japan, Moody's, Seniors, Tax base
Bloomberg (July 1)
Hong Kong has long been ambivalent about mainland China and now “faces perhaps its biggest challenge: China’s wobbly economy. A downturn on the mainland threatens to erode Hong Kong’s AAA credit rating, and to alienate the city’s population once and for all…. If it’s not careful, China may lose 7 million votes of confidence, too.”
Tags: Challenge, China, Confidence, Credit rating, Downturn, Economy, Hong Kong
The Economist (December 3)
As the European “crisis deepens, an alarming prospect looms: that France’s own status could lapse, and thus its clout at the heart of the euro zone. France is by far the most vulnerable of the zone’s six AAA-rated countries.” Many French officials are still pretending a downgrade is unthinkable, but Moody’s has placed France’s rating on watch. In another worrying move, the OECD “cut its 2012 GDP growth forecast for France from 2.1% to just 0.3%, well below the 1% on which the government based its latest austerity plan.” With some forecasting recession, the French could find themselves in the vice of decreased revenue and increased financing costs.
As the European “crisis deepens, an alarming prospect looms: that France’s own status could lapse, and thus its clout at the heart of the euro zone. France is by far the most vulnerable of the zone’s six AAA-rated countries.” Many French officials are still pretending a downgrade is unthinkable, but Moody’s has placed France’s rating on watch. In another worrying move, the OECD “cut its 2012 GDP growth forecast for France from 2.1% to just 0.3%, well below the 1% on which the government based its latest austerity plan.” With some forecasting recession, the French could find themselves in the vice of decreased revenue and increased financing costs.
Tags: Credit rating, Europe, France, Moody's, OECD
The Independent (April 28)
Europe’s equivalent of the “sub-prime” is fast reaching a point of no return. Greece and Portugal both received new credit rating downgrades. The Independent urges the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to “redouble their efforts” because “every day that a deal for Greece is not forthcoming is another day in which the eurozone’s crisis will spiral further out of control.” Each day increases the risk that more European countries will become “basket cases.”
Europe’s equivalent of the “sub-prime” is fast reaching a point of no return. Greece and Portugal both received new credit rating downgrades. The Independent urges the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to “redouble their efforts” because “every day that a deal for Greece is not forthcoming is another day in which the eurozone’s crisis will spiral further out of control.” Each day increases the risk that more European countries will become “basket cases.”
Tags: Credit rating, EU, Europe, Greek crisis, IMF
