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The latest indicator of China’s economic woes is the number of credit bonds nationwide that could not be repaid on time—164 of them, involving a sum of 160 billion yuan (about $24.43 billion).Borrowers include state-run enterprises who were previously rated AAA by Chinese bond rating agencies.The Chinese market has three types of bonds: government bonds that were issued by different level governments; credit bonds issued by companies; and convertible bonds, issued by listed companies and which can be converted into shares of common stock in the issuing company or cash of equal value.Chinese state-run media Economic Observer reported the latest...

Link only: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-29/moody-s-warns-cities-to-address-climate-risks-or-face-downgrades

As many as 227 million Americans may be compelled to disclose intimate details of their families and financial lives -- including their Social Security numbers -- in a new national database being assembled by two federal agencies. The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau posted an April 16 Federal Register notice of an expansion of their joint National Mortgage Database Program to include personally identifiable information that reveals actual users, a reversal of previously stated policy. Sign Up for the Watchdog newsletter! FHFA will manage the database and share it with CFPB. A CFPB internal planning...

FXstreet.com (Córdoba) – The Financial Times reported that the credit rating agency, Standard and Poor’s placed the six remaining AAA Eurozone countries on creditwatch negative. Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Luxembourg are the countries putted on watch for a possible downgrade. Economic turmoil in Europe is the main reason for the action by S&P. These implicates that there is a probability of a downgrade of about 50% within 90 days in the mentioned countries. According to the FT report, S&P will announce later the action.

Some state and local governments that issue debt could face “significant stress” if market instability continues and see credit downgrades, Moody’s warned Wednesday. Although most municipal issuers are “well insulated from shock,” Moody’s said there are some governments that could be weakened in a volatile market environment. However, the agency does not anticipate widespread defaults, but opened the door to possible downgrades, although not by more than one level, Reuters reported. “We expect that the vast majority of these issuers could successfully manage through a period of diminished market access and tight liquidity without facing a severe deterioration in their...

<p>NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Amid the contentious debt ceiling debate, the United States is at risk of being booted out of a prestigious group of countries that boast a spotless credit rating.</p> <p>Only 17 countries in the world -- currently including the U.S. -- hold the highly coveted triple-A rating from both Standard & Poor's and Moody's. (S&P rates an additional three countries as triple-A, that aren't featured on Moody's list).</p>

Credit-card companies are getting a lot of grief in the blogosphere (not to mention Congress) lately. Most of these critiques are just a bunch of shaggy dog stories, but the very smart Rortybomb has an extremely numerate post in which he points out that when the interest rate on your plastic goes from 8% to 28% because you’re two days late on a payment, it’s highly unlikely that this is a pure reflection of a change in your probability of default. His analysis indicates that the way this price (i.e., interest rate) change is determined is not by the change...

aced with a rash of litigation over their ratings of mortgage-backed securities, credit-rating firms are hoping to rely on a longtime legal ace-in-the-hole: the Constitution. But that protection is being questioned amid allegations that the firms had conflicts that encouraged them to give unduly rosy opinions about the creditworthiness of securities backed by subprime mortgages. Moody's Corp., McGraw-Hill Cos.' Standard & Poor's and Fimalac SA's Fitch Ratings were hit with litigation over their ratings after homeowner defaults triggered investor losses in the securities. SNIP Yet to succeed in court, investors may need to navigate a thorny constitutional issue: Are the...

State and local governments across the country are turning to tobacco to plug their deficit gaps at a time when states are under the worst fiscal pressure in decades. But using the billions of dollars from the industrywide tobacco settlement in 1998 could cause more harm than the politicians have been willing to acknowledge. Eight states are using proceeds from the tobacco settlement to reduce state budget deficits, and six more are considering it, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Five of these states have already had their credit ratings lowered by the three main credit agencies or...