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See also: US credit rating sinks as national debt increasesWhen Fitch, the securities ratings agency, downgraded US sovereign debt, it was a huge story in the financial world. The Wall Street Journal’s initial coverage noted that it was:…clouding the outlook for the $25 trillion global market for Treasurys. Fitch’s rating on the U.S. now stands at “AA+”, or one notch below the top “AAA” grade.America’s reputation for reliably making good on its IOUs has cast Treasury bonds in an indispensable role in global markets: a safe-haven security offering nearly risk-free returns. Treasurys serve as a critical benchmark for returns on...

I feel like I’ve said this a lot lately, but Joe Biden has a lot of gall.I think there’s no question about it. He’s done such a horrible job on the economy, driving us into record inflation spurred on by reckless spending. But then he tries to take “credit” for all kinds of things he had nothing to do with or that aren’t true. He tries to label his failures a success, even calling the mess he’s put forth “Bidenomics” (as though that were something of which to be proud).But there’s only so much you can spin, and there’s no...

New York, June 24, 2022 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has today affirmed the Government of United States of America's (US) Aaa long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings. The outlook remains stable. The rating affirmation is driven by Moody's view that the US is emerging from the pandemic shock with its credit strengths intact, underpinned by exceptional economic strength, high institutional and governance strength, and the unique and central roles of the US dollar and US Treasury bond market in the global financial system, which among other benefits provide extraordinary funding capacity. The US' strong policy response to the pandemic...

This month marks the 10-year anniversary of the housing market meltdown that led to the Great Recession. Is another crisis looming around the corner? Hopefully not, but it is worrisome that a decade later Washington is engaged in the same derelict behavior that caused the crisis. Government agencies are still issuing taxpayer guarantees on more than 90 percent of mortgages -- many with less than 5 percent down payments. Yikes. Worse, the biggest conspirators in the meltdown, the duopolistic credit rating agencies Moody's and S&P, which gave sterling AAA grades on these bonds up nearly to the date they collapsed...

From Tyler Durden: Back in 2011, Standard & Poors’ shocked the world, and the Obama administration, when it dared to downgrade the US from its vaunted AAA rating, something that had never happened before (and led to the resignation of S&P’s CEO and a dramatic crackdown on the rating agency led by Tim Geithner). Nearly seven years later, with the US on the verge of another government shutdown and debt ceiling breach (with the agreement reached only after the midnight hour, literally) this time it is Warren Buffett’s own rating agency, Moody’s, which on Friday morning warned Trump that he...

S&P says downgraded China as credit growth still too fast BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s attempts to reduce risks from its rapid buildup in debt are not working as quickly as expected and credit growth is still too fast, S&P Global Ratings said on Friday, a day after it downgraded the country’s sovereign credit rating. While S&P warned in June that a cut may be on the cards, it said it decided to make the call after concluding that China’s “de-risking” drive that started early this year was having less of an impact on credit growth than initially expected. “Despite the...

Credit rating agency Moody's has lowered Britain's credit outlook to 'negative' from 'stable' in the wake of the country voting to leave the European Union.Following the Brexit vote, it said Britain's economic growth will be weaker and warned the public finances will be weaker than previously forecast, meaning it will be harder to cut the deficit. A negative outlook means there is a greater danger of a country being downgraded. It is three years since Moody's cut Britain's AAA rating. It currently has the UK on AA+, the second highest rating.It said: 'During the several years in which the UK will have to...

Over the weekend we talked about the Illinois state supreme court decision which effectively terminated any effort to reform the state’s collapsing public worker union pension system and how it was endangering the future stability of the Land of Lincoln. The city of Chicago has the exact same problems, though on a more localized level. With debts in the hundreds of billions of dollars and tax rates which are already driving away businesses and residents alike, the iron grip of the unions on not just the legislature, but the state constitution itself is turning into an albatross around the...

In 2011, concerned about the growing debt crisis, Standard & Poor, the venerable credit rating firm, downgraded the U.S. bond rating for the first time from “Triple-A” to “AA-plus,” a move that sent shockwaves through the financial markets raising troubling questions about the government’s growing debt. The move hit a nerve with a White House gearing up for a massive re-election campaign. Then Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called the Chairman of McGraw Hill, the owners of S&P, declaring that the government would hold S&P “accountable” and their conduct would be “looked at very carefully.” Geithner wasn’t bluffing. The Obama Administration...

Moody’s downgraded Japan’s credit rating Monday, citing “rising uncertainty” over the country’s debt situation and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s faltering efforts to kick-start the world’s No. 3 economy. The ratings agency said it cut Japan’s rating by one notch to A1 from Aa3, after the economy sank into recession during the third quarter.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) warned on Thursday that climate change will force down the credit ratings of countries throughout the world. Will this be the straw that breaks the climate change-deniers' backs? "Climate change is likely to be one of the global mega-trends impacting sovereign creditworthiness, in most cases negatively," S&P notes, adding "Assuming that extreme weather events are on the rise in terms of frequency and destruction, .. The S&P report closely follows one published by the CNA Corporation Military Advisory Board on Tuesday, which found climate change to be a risk to national security. The study...

Standard & Poor’s downgraded Russia’s credit rating to BBB-, just one notch above junk, and warned that the nation faced a further downgrade in the event of tighter financial sanctions by members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). To prevent a big drop in the exchange rate of their ruble currency, Russia’s central bank increased its benchmark interest rate to 7.5% in an effort to trim inflation. The Central Bank of Russia raised the rate it loans to the nation’s bank by .5% following the S&P downgrade. The last time the country’s monetary authorities raised rates was in March--to...

Detroit's looming bankruptcy is making news again, this time focusing on current restructuring plans aimed to wipe out $18 billion in debt by axing pension checks of city retirees, including police and fire. Massive long-term retirement and healthcare promises were by no means solely responsible for the city's fall, but these massive pensions coupled with a tax base weakened by high unemployment and housing vacancies caused the budget to bleed out quicker. The Michigan city may be the most recent victim of bankruptcy, but many of the 61 largest U.S. cities have adopted the same retirement legacy leading to $118...

America is now run by the best and brightest of Chicago. What they did to Chicago, they’re doing to America. Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Chicago’s credit rating, citing the city’s unfunded pension liabilities.The agency announced Tuesday it’s lowering the rating on $8.3 billion in debt from A3 to Baa1, putting it only three notches above junk-bond status.Moody’s Investor Service rated the city’s upcoming $388 million bond issuance at Baa1, down from A3, a level set last year after an unusual triple downgrade.Chicago will test the bond market for the first time since its bond rating dropped three notches, thanks...

Racial Politics: Like mortgage lenders, the auto industry is inoculating itself against trumped-up racism charges by adjusting the way it prices loans. Eric Holder's witch hunt is spreading — and doing lasting damage. On Friday, the National Automobile Dealers Association issued new "fair credit" guidelines to protect the 16,000 car dealers it represents from discrimination lawsuits filed by the Justice Department and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agencies have teamed up to frame car lenders as bigots after successfully framing home lenders. "Fulfilling these goals is particularly important in light of recent allegations," NADA said in a memo to members....

Bond credit rating agency Moody’s cut the credit rating of Sony from Baa3 to Ba1 with a stable outlook — Ba1 is also just below investment grade. In other words, Sony is considered a speculative investment right now and it will become harder for the company to borrow money. Today’s downgrade comes from its volatile net profit. Despite many staff cuts, some divisions, such as its PC and TV activities, are still losing money or are barely in the black. Increased competition in these areas are to blame.

<p>Peter Barnes “Is there a risk that the United States could lose its AAA credit rating? Yes or no?”</p> <p>Geithner’s response: “No risk of that.”</p> <p>“No risk?” Barnes asked.</p> <p>“No risk,” Geithner said.</p> <p>Considering that the US was downgraded by S&P just 4 months later, one person who certainly will never forget his idiotic preannouncement, is the former Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner. And being the sore loser that everyone suspected he was (although one hopes his recent well-paid move to Warburg Pincus will help soothe his sensitivity) it will come as no surprise that Geithner told the Chairman of embattled rating agency Standard & Poor's, that its downgrade of the US from AAA to AA+ "would be met by a response."</p>

The list of eurozone countries with immaculate credit ratings took another hit this week. On Friday morning, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) removed the Netherlands’ top rating, downgrading the country to AA+. This leaves only three countries in the common currency area with the best grade of AAA: Finland, Luxembourg and Germany. Two years ago, six countries still had that rating. … Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who is also president of the Euro Group, recently announced that his country would violate the European Commission’s deficit rules despite an additional €6 billion ($8.16 billion) austerity package. … Like Germany, the Netherlands...

Ratings company Standard & Poor’s upgraded its outlook on the U.S. to “stable” from “negative” on Monday and said “tentative improvements” on the political and economic fronts have bought Washington extra time to grapple with long-term challenges. The move comes almost two years after S&P shook up Washington by becoming the first ratings company to remove the nation’s pristine “AAA” rating due to widespread concerns about soaring debt and deficit levels. But S&P affirmed its “AA+” credit rating on the U.S. on Monday and said the revised outlook to “stable” indicates the likelihood of a near-term downgrade is less than...

Some gal on the radio is talking about permanent gold backwardization. I know the gist of things means that the futures price is lower than the spot price, but what does this whole thing mean exactly? She says trade would just stop. Why would that be? Anyone know about this? Does it mean the quoted spot price is basically meaningless?