ratings agencies

Wow! I've heard of multi-year lows, but a 53-year low. That's painful. Look, let's not beat around the bush here. GM is in big trouble. They sell many products that people don't want anymore (gas guzzlers), their growth engine is…

You kind of saw this one coming. Bank of America is crazy to take Countrywide Financial's balance sheet onto its books. Apparently, S&P Equity Research agrees and correctly downgraded BofA to a sell rating because of the risk. Note:…

This via the FT blog FT Alphaville:The latest downgrades from S&P - testament to the fact that the structured finance unwind isn’t yet unwound: 330 U.S. CDOs put on credit watch negative80 second lien RMBS cut to ‘D’65 Alt-A RMBS…

In the wake of downgrades from AAA to AA status, MBIA has pulled support for its bond insurance subsidiary. In a letter to shareholders, CEO Jay Brown said:"We confirmed to the market today that we will not be making capital contributions…

From Bloomberg News in it's entirety. This is a HUGE story. This means that Ambac and MBIA will go bust, no doubt. And there will be significant writedowns in Q2 and Q3. Expect to see a major financial institution fail (one that's…

This just in from the Globe & Mail via Reuters:Standard & Poor's in a sweeping move Monday that rocked markets cut ratings on a number of major U.S. securities firms including Lehman Brothers Inc. and said outlooks on the large U.S.…

Today, Fannie released horrible quarterly financial results. The company lost $2.2 billion and is now looking to shore up its capital base. Fannie said an estimate of its fair value of net assets was $12.2bn at the end of the first…