ratings agencies

Highlights The US dollar headed higher, except against the Australian dollar, but continues to outperform against the rest of the G10. The euro, after earlier losses accelerated around $1.332, traded below $1.320 following the news that…

Moody’s upgraded Uruguay two notches to Ba1 from Ba3 previously, bringing it into line with S&P’s BB+. We recently added Uruguay to our sovereign ratings model universe, bringing the total number of EM countries ranked to 39. As we…

Moody’s downgraded Hungary two notches to Baa3, matching the BBB- ratings by both S&P and Fitch. Our model has long put Hungary at junk status, and we note that its implied rating deteriorated further in our latest round to BB/Ba2/BB…

Moody’s put Indonesia’s rating on review for possible upgrade. This is a stronger statement than the June move to positive outlook on the Ba2 rating (equivalent to BB), and we think an upgrade will be seen soon. Indeed, the agencies are…

by Win Thin Here are some more thoughts regarding the negative Ireland comments by Moody’s that we highlighted in our daily.  The agency warned of “multi-notch” downgrades to its Aa2 rating, noting that the aid plan will “crystallize…

The reason: QE. The downgrade for the U.S. is to A+ from AA, with a negative outlook because of quantitative easing, according to Xinhua. According to the ratings agency, quantitative easing will further depreciate the U.S. dollar and…

by Win Thin S&P affirmed Hungary’s BBB- rating but kept the negative outlook in place, signaling that all is not yet clear for the country.  We believe that markets have gotten too bulled up on Hungary lately and are overlooking…

Highlights The US dollar is still consolidating/correcting its recent decline against most of the major currencies today.  The notable exception is the British pound, where a considerably stronger than expected initial estimate of…

This is a cross-post from the new economic blog Global Economic Intersection. Ratings agencies have been criticized for inadequately determining risk in the massive collection of debt securities created in the credit bubble.  A second…

by Win Thin Here are some more thoughts on Fitch’s downgrade of Ireland to A+ from AA- with negative outlook kept in place.  Of course, we view the Fitch downgrade as completely justified, and look for further cuts ahead as our model…