The Credit Writedowns Pro weekly issue will be released later today discussing the slew of ratings downgrades in the euro zone and what they mean for investors. My view is that it is not the ratings themselves that matter but the fact that markets have now become acclimated to the monetisation I predicted in November. There are more changes to come. Sign-up for the weekly to get my take.
Meanwhile, Swiss daily newspaper Tagesanzeiger is reporting that Fitch, the ratings agency, is about to downgrade six European countries because of the sovereign debt crisis. The paper says that six euro countries were put on ratings review in December and that all of them are likely to be downgraded. Edward Parker, a Managing Director for Fitch based in Milan is quoted as saying "We expect our ratings review at the end of the month to result in downgrades of one to two levels." The countries in question are Spain, Italy, Cypress, Slovenia, Belgium and Ireland.
Source: Tagesanzeiger
P.S. I may have a full translation later today. I will be on BNN at 1240 PM ET with presenter Howard Green and fellow guest Ryan Avent to discuss News of the Day. Europe and the sovereign debt crisis will feature prominently. Hopefully we will have time to talk about housing bubbles in Canada and elsewhere. Tune in.