ratings agencies

The official creditors won the battle. Greece will be given the money so that they can service their debts. They will have an EC task force embedded into Greece to push for compliance and the escrow-like account ensures a priority to debt…

A friend commented to me when he saw the story that Iceland had been upgraded by Fitch, the ratings agency, that this "sure makes default look palatable". Obviously, Iceland is not out of the woods yet but their relative success says there…

I am not particularly shocked or worried about the cancelled European finance ministers meeting. I still think this bailout gets done because Europe and the markets are not prepared for a disorderly default and politicians cannot risk the…

The US dollar is broadly mixed against the majors and EMs after the market appears to have shrugged off Moody’s downgrades of European sovereigns. Central banks ability to surprise the market remains intact, even in these trying times. It…

We stress again that the loss of AAA is not the end of the world, and one could make the case that AA is indeed the new AAA. However, the Moody’s news comes a time when markets are nervous about Greece, and so some limited fallout to the…

Two weeks ago I highlighted the fact that Indonesia has re-attained an investment grade rating, continuing the upward path it has been on since the Asian crisis derailed the Asian growth story 15 years ago. Indeed, we should expect emerging…

Cyprus is not an important player on the world's financial stage but it does bear noting that banking and sovereign debt problems run both wide and deep in the European Union. The latest news underscoring these difficulties comes via Fitch,…

Even if the private sector participation sufficiently high, will it be enough to put Greece's debt on a sustainable path? This seems unlikely and there is increasing risk that the ECB forgoes getting anything but its initial investment…

Banking sectors in both countries are highly concentrated. The top four banks in Australia account for about three quarters of the banking assets. The top six Canadian banks account for upwards of 90% of the Canadian banking assets.…

Portugal appears to be headed down that same road. While we have warned in the past of risks that Portugal would need a second aid package, it is only since S&P joined the other major rating agencies on January 13 that more market…