ratings agencies

I am not at all optimistic about the euro zone in terms of policy makers fashioning a solution to the problem. The euro leaders have the diagnosis all wrong. They keep harping on government debt and deficits as if that's the problem. And…

Just as Europe and the US are suffering massive downgrades, other countries are seeing their risk profiles improve. Indonesia is a perfect example.

To me this situation looks pretty hopeless frankly. Policy makers in Europe just don't get it. The best we are going to get is austerity and partial monetisation by the ECB until the union breaks or sovereign debtors default and banks are…

To me this situation looks pretty hopeless frankly. Policy makers in Europe just don't get it. The best we are going to get is austerity and partial monetisation by the ECB until the union breaks or sovereign debtors default and banks are…

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…

Despite the ongoing hawkish rhetoric from the ECB, there are signs that they are getting it: The LTRO can't work, as you're essentially just swapping one liability for another one (albeit more long term in duration, therefore making it…

Perhaps the main point to take to heart from the events of the last week is the way the recent ECB liquidity measures have apparently been able to stabilise the debt crisis, at least for the time being, even while it is not clear that they…

With the long-awaited euro zone downgrades by S&P now out of the way, we thought it would be useful to assess just how close current ratings are now to our own sovereign ratings model.

With the long-awaited euro zone downgrades by S&P now out of the way, we thought it would be useful to assess just how close current ratings are now to our own sovereign ratings model.

In the wake of today's extraordinary credit ratings action for the euro zone by Standard and Poor's, below are the rating agency's sovereign credit ratings.