ratings agencies

If Cantor doesn’t fold his hand, it will be a political disaster for him and his party and economic disaster for the global economy.

Edward Hugh writes of an unstable combination which make the countries in Eastern Europe highly vulnerable to both a renewed deterioration in sentiment and an external economic slowdown of the sort we could see following a disorderly Greek…

Below are S&P’s sovereign credit ratings. Highlighted are the members of the euro zone.

Moody's has "heightened concerns that Portugal will not be able to fully achieve the deficit reduction and debt stabilisation targets". They conclude that will result in "growing risk that Portugal will require a second round of official…

Dollar is broadly stronger amid concerns over Greek debt rating, China tightening; stocks mixed. S&P warns plan for Greece is likely default; ECB to accept collateral unless all agencies rule default. RBA on hold, Riksbank hikes by…

What follows is simply a follow-up note to my earlier (Elephant in The Euro Room) piece on Italy. The decision by S&P to put Italian sovereign debt on negative outlook, and the subsequent announcement by Moody’s that it was considering…

Here is a bit more detail courtesy of Fitch, the ratings agency, outlining exposure to the European Periphery.

When the pejorative acronym PIGS was first created, it was supposed to be a moniker for the southern European states (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain). However, Italy has done much better than housing-crisis stricken Ireland and so…

Here are some thoughts regarding the late Friday cut in outlook to negative for Italy’s A+ rating by S&P. While we remain negative on the ratings for peripheral euro zone, we don't think a downgrade of Italy by S&P is clearly…

The change of power on the regional level is important in Spain because of their relative fiscal autonomy. Regions control spending on health care and education and account for half of government employees. They have an outstanding debt of…