moody's

Even Mr Buffett, as happy as he must be with his investment in Moody's, crunches his own numbers when using derivatives.

Moody's did not return phone calls. Standard & Poor's responded, saying it's not as bad as critics paint it out to be. . .

A negative outlook indicates the possibility that Moody's could downgrade the country's sovereign credit rating within a year or two.

The odds of such action are now better than they have been for a while, a point Moody's made the same day as it affirmed its AAA rating.

Tristan Cooper, of Moody's, a rating agency, had expected Abu Dhabi to be "a bit more fussy" about how the funds were used.

Mundungus shrugged and grimaced; the magical eye swerved sideways to glare at him out of the side of Moody's head.

Everyone (well, the media at least) seems to be acting as if Moody's downgrading the United States would be a bad thing.

Moody's, a ratings agency, notes that the average lifespan of new bank debt has fallen to its lowest level in at least 30 years.

The news comes less than a week after rival ratings agency Moody's put Japan's bonds under review for a possible downgrade.

Moody's confirms that Mr. Bienstock complained to the compliance department about Mr. Finnegan, and that his layoff came a week later.

Moody's, a rival agency, has already commented that the summit did not diminish the risk of downward ratings revisions.

He said lucrative fees that Moody's and S& P received for rating the investments affected their objectivity in assessing the debt.

Moody's has a stable outlook on the U. S. rating, which indicates a change is not expected over the next 18 months.

Earlier, Moody's cut ratings on various German public sector banks, citing a lower likelihood of external support if it were required.

Moody's expects most publishers that default to be able to restructure their debt, rather than close titles.

Moody's said the chance of a Greek restructuring had risen.

"Overall what you see right now is not a credit crunch, " says Carola Schuler of Moody's, a rating agency.

Still, Moody's at the time warned that the company's delay reflected its 'very high liquidity and financial risk.

Even so, Moody's said it thought Spain would still be able to pay its debts without its own EU bailout.

Ratings firm Moody's Investors Service has given a thumbs up to the idea of letting some local governments sell bonds.

Instead, Moody's today will announce plans to introduce two measures to help investors understand complex financial instruments, he added.

Moody's downgraded Greece in March and said last month another might be on the way.

However, Moody's now thinks that this global default rate has peaked and will fall sharply next year, to about 4 per cent.

Moody's, the rating agency, warned it would probably downgrade Lehman's credit rating unless it was able to quickly find a buyer.

Moody's said the scandal surrounding Olympus wasn't a factor in the warning.

"Early results, " says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy. com, "suggest the stimulus is performing close to expectations. "

Bedford says his own analysis doesn't support some of the claims in Moody's report, particularly those relating to credit risk.

Adding to the heightened jitters, ratings agency Moody's placed Greece's ratings on review for a possible downgrade after markets closed.

In anticipation of Oracle's need for cash to complete the deal, Moody's downgraded the company's credit rating.

Moody's, a rating agency, has cut its credit status to a notch above junk, worried that measures to tackle its budget deficit will not last.

MOODY'S Economy. com has mapped the geographic spread of the worst global downturn since the Depression.

Adding all this up, 2009 will be a rough year for colleges, predicts Moody's, a credit rating agency.

But Moody's downgrades coincided with a rerun of the European Banking Authority's stress tests of the region's banks.

Moody's Investors Service expects the U. S. junk-default rate to top 10% in the next year.

But Moody's issued a negative outlook for a majority of colleges and universities heavily dependent on tuition and state revenue.

Moody's and other debt-raters have cast a worried eye over the market, placing subprime deals on watch for a possible downgrade.

Moody's pointed out that French government debt metrics "are now among the weakest of France's triple-A peers" .

Moody's Investors Service lowered Citigroup's credit rating one level to its third highest rating.

For decades, Moody's used a separate scale for municipal debt, which gave the bonds the appearance of being underrated.

Mr. Hong was speaking at a regular news briefing in Beijing, and was responding to questions about the Moody's report.

Just look, to cite one example, at how the euro moved after Moody's warned on Wednesday it could downgrade Spanish sovereign debt.

"The impact of Moody's action is being evaluated and a new schedule is being considered, " a person familiar with the planned deal said.

The toughest blow came in April, when Moody's stripped Berkshire of its AAA rating, citing the stock-market decline.

Few institutions have drawn as much political heat in recent weeks as the three main agencies: Standard &Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch.

Moody's, a ratings agency, has put France's AAA rating under surveillance, with a reassessment due in January.

With its move, Fitch caught up with Moody's, which last week cut Portugal's ratings two notches to A3, equivalent to Fitch's A-minus.

"Producers practically panicked, " says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "They cut costs incredibly aggressively. "

Moody's, S&P's main rival in the ratings business, also maintains a Aaa credit rating - its highest - on the United States.

The cost of insuring all weaker euro zone states' debt against default rose after Moody's move, announced on Tuesday.

No. Its two main rivals, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, last week said they were keeping their U. S. ratings at AAA for now.

Jonathan Polansky, another Moody's official said: "We have introduced a centralised model verification and validation process. "

Fitch's study follows a report from Moody's Investors Service last week which raised similar concerns about Chinese companies.

In its credit opinion, Moody's also cited the potential volatility of Berkshire's 'catastrophe-exposed business.

"The yuan is an issue, and then the export tax rebates, " said Sherman Chan, an economist with Moody's Economy. com in Sydney.

In yesterday s US session, Moody's expressed concern over the possible erosion of Frances fiscal position in the near term.

Moody's data show consumer spending in the recovery is running below the growth seen after the last four recessions.

Every time Warren Buffett made a buy or sell decision, Moody's would have to withdraw a rating.

However, Moody's maintained the top-notch ratings on these products until 2008, when they were downgraded amid general market declines.

As the biggest outlier of the bunch, the higher PBoC number was essential to driving up Moody's estimate.

A day earlier, Moody's Investor Services placed debt of several Portuguese banks under review for possible downgrades.

"If at the conclusion of the review, Spain's ratings are lowered, it would most likely be by one, or at most two, notches, " Moody's said.

But is the imprimatur of Moody's deserving of so much unquestioning respect?

The most interesting aspect of Moody's rating was not the downgrade itself, but the reasoning.

Ireland is at risk of losing its triple-A rating from both Standard & Poor's and Moody's.

On July 13th Moody's put the United States on review for a downgrade.

In fact, Moody's had raised some bond-market eyebrows by keeping its rating on Greece so high for so long.

Moody's noted both might "test the boundaries" of their triple-A ratings, but were likely to survive the trial.

On Wednesday, Moody's made a similar observation about Japan; the market reaction was imperceptible.

Moody's Investors Service, a New York-based ratings agency, described the goal as "extremely ambitious" and unlikely to happen.

Due to past practices, Moody's, S&P and Fitch have lost credibility in the eyes of many nations.

If Moody's downgrades Greece, its bonds cease to be eligible for ECB refinancing.

'Certain key risks remain that could yet threaten the recovery' for the auto industry worldwide, the Moody's report said.

Moody's said that the U. S. government's AAA credit rating was unlikely to change in the next 18 months.

Moody's and Standard & Poor's, two credit-rating agencies, put the firm on their watch lists for potential downgrades.

"Taiwan has staged an economic recovery which seemed impossible one year ago, " Tine Olsen, economist at Moody's Analytics, said.

The law firm was called in by Moody's after revelation of the error by the Financial Times in May.

On balance, Moody's says that, for creditors of such countries, the negatives will outweigh the positives.

The Moody's ratings agency predicted that a euro exit by any country would trigger a cascade of sovereign defaults across the eurozone.

AAA, top rating for bonds of the highest quality awarded by the main rating agencies: Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch IBCA.

Berlusconi's government is already taking action against ratings agencies, with police raiding the offices of Moody's and S&P last month.

Lien added that Moody's is still lagging behind S&P in rating actions and threats.

Moody's, which last summer had issued a sanguine outlook for Alt-A, recently quadrupled its loss projections on bonds backed by such loans.

Moody's said it acted because of Japan's large budget deficits and buildup in government debt since the two thousand nine global recession.

Moody's has said employees broke the firm's policies but disagreed that the breach made its application misleading.

Moody's focus will be on Frances efforts to support the EU and banks, which could add significantly liabilities to the French balance sheet.

Ireland's rating will probably remain within the investment-grade category, Moody's said.

"As shoppers in the affected regions focus on the storm, other discretionary spending will fall and not be recouped, " Moody's said.

Moody's and Standard and Poor's have both suggested that the agreed-upon rollover plan might well constitute a default.

When Moody's recently downgraded the debt of Ireland, it warned that "multi-notch" downgrades might follow, and explained why.

The firms that must be feeling most nervous about the outcome are Standard & Poor's (S&P), Moody's and Fitch.

Moody's voice adds to the growing chorus of US critics which includes trade unions, politicians of both parties and some company executives.

but defaults are about to rise sharply , says moody ' s , a rating agency.

The case ensnared executives and board members at companies like McKinsey, Intel, Goldman Sachs, Moody's and IBM.

Moody's, a rating agency, says many have found funding "either impossible or achievable only at exorbitant levels" .

The market initially ignored the Moody's report, but by midday on Friday traders started to "de-risk" their portfolios en masse.

"Ultimately these maturities can't be met without asset sales, " says Tristan Cooper, a sovereign-risk analyst at Moody's.

Last month Moody's rating agency said it was considering downgrading Italian debt.

Executives at Standard and Poor's and Moody's Investors Service are scheduled to testify before Congress on Wednesday.

Moody's and Fitch, the two main rival agencies, have for now given America the benefit of the doubt.

At worst, Moody's says, the vast majority of tranches insuch CDOs would be downgraded to junk-bond status.

The downgrade of Ireland this week signaled Moody's belief that Ireland has a higher likelihood to default on investments.

"This downgrade rate is higher than pre-economic crisis figures, " said Jennifer Tennant, Moody's analyst.

The rating agency Moody's warned that it may lower Spain's credit rating.

'This year will be another difficult one for consumer spending, ' said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist with Moody's economy. com.

Credit rating agency Moody's has downgraded France's three big banks due to their difficulty borrowing money.

He noted that neither his parent organization, Moody's, nor Fitch, the other of the three major rating agencies, have downgraded U. S. debt.

Defaults on corporate debt should fall below 3% by the end of the year, according to Moody's, a credit-rating agency.

Moody's Investors Service assigned the company an Aa2 rating, the third-highest investment grade.

As long as prices continue to fall, credit may remain tighter than it would otherwise be, said Lonski of Moody's Investors Service.

Eventually, Moody's -- and Fitch Ratings, which also used different criteria for munis -- caved.

At the time, Moody's cited challenges stemming from the Lehman Brothers acquisition.

The PSI report describes how both S&P and Moody's had given low, subinvestment-grade ratings to one third of the assets in Gemstone 7.

John Nelson of Moody's, a ratings agency, argues that these reforms will favour large, efficient providers.

Earlier this year Moody's said $390bn of US bonds, mostly investment grade, were due to mature through to the end of 2011.

Everyone now knows that Moody's and Standard & Poor's botched their analyses of bonds backed by home mortgages.

Moody's, a rating agency, expects the junk-bond default rate, now 2. 7%, will rise to 7. 4% a year from now.

Yet their reassurances would have carried more weight had Moody's, a ratings agency, not downgraded 16 Spanish banks later that day.

But Pierre Cailleteau of Moody's says that "because of the crisis we have to define the boundary between AAA and AA ratings very clearly. "

Since it introduced its outlook system in 1991, it has never put the US on negative outlook. (Moody's did so once, in 1996).

Moody's concluded, rightly in my view, that the messy European Union politics constitutes a reason for concern.

That was why JP Morgan could declare super-senior risk so safe, and why Moody's had rated so many of these securities triple-A.

This week, Moody's Investors Service lowered its credit rating for Japanese government debt.

Peter Nerby of Moody's, a rating agency, points to two further advantages (though his rivals at Standard &Poor's are not so sanguine).

Moody's, a credit-rating agency, notes that many patients are putting off non-essential treatments.

Hence Moody's move; it now thinks default risk is "low but no longer de minimus" .

China's 10 leading insurers derive less than 5 per cent of their premiums from Sichuan province, says Moody's.

Three months earlier Moody's also downgraded its outlook on China property market to negative.

Moody's, the international rating agency last month put US credit rating on a watch list.

"About half of [the $275bn], they are just parking on their balance sheets, " said Kevin Cassidy, Moody's senior credit officer.

Moody's conclusions may well prove to be accurate.

Moody's rating agency cut its outlook for China's property developers from stable to negative in April.

In fairness to Moody's, it is the opacity and paucity of Chinese data that drive respectable economists to make so many assumptions.

The error comes after Moody's, a rival ratings firm, warned on Oct. 17 that the outlook on France's rating was under pressure.

S& P and Moody's both upgraded Ecuador to single-B from triple-C in the year before its default.

However, SocGen postponed a planned samurai bond sale following the Moody's report, according to two people familiar with the deal.

He also trimmed his stake in ratings agency Moody's (NYSE: MCO) and banking giant M& T Bank (NYSE: MTB).

But if the Jeremiahs are wrong and volumes hold up, Moody's and S&P can expect more handsome returns.

Under Moody's worst-case scenario, it would mean that banks could be liable for about 1. 7 trillion yuan worth of bad loans.

Moody's, another rating agency, says that the average rating of toll-road debt has declined by five grades since 2001.

Portugal's debt has come under scrutiny after Moody's this week downgraded the country's credit rating to junk.

Noel Kirnon, a senior managing director at Moody's, adds that "investors have the ability to challenge our work constantly" .

China's growth miracle has finally ended, said Sherman Chan, an analyst at Moody's Economy. com.

Dubai's debt pile is now estimated by Moody's ratings agency at $100 billion (60 billion pounds).

The burden of bailing out Dexia led ratings agency Moody's to warn Belgium late on Friday that its Aa1 government bond ratings may fall.

"But revolutions are notoriously difficult to forecast, " said Chris Lafakas, an economist at Moody's Analytics who focuses on energy.

The country's biggest cement maker had its long-term debt rating lowered to junk at Moody's Investors Service.

"It would nail the economy, " said Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics.

An analysis by Moody's Analytics found that infrastructure could be the quickest way to boost payrolls.

Moody's said that, for National Indemnity, falling stock prices have eroded the capital cushion.

Now that the 90 day review period of Italian debt as passed last Friday, a Moody's downgrade is expected within the month.

"Such pro-cyclical spending makes no sense, " says Mauro Leos of Moody's, a ratings agency.

Moody's, a rating agency, considers them more secure than Malaysia's sovereign debt.

This week Moody's, a rating agency, noted a "fragile stabilisation" in the three most vulnerable: Hungary, Latvia and Iceland.

The credibility of the ECB's exit strategy is, thus, hostage to Moody's mood.

S&P, along with Moody's, are reportedly under investigation by the Department of Justice for their role in the recent credit crisis.

Moody's downgraded Portugal last week, citing similar reasons.

Moody's agrees, saying that "a tipping point may be reached" if the market starts to sell JGBs and yields rise.

Moody's added that 'there is a large leeway for even a significant increase in debt issuance.

On October 24th Moody's, a ratings agency, downgraded the firm, citing its capital and operating environment.

"That is still a historically high number, " said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy. com.

We should reform the rating agencies so as to break up the oligopolistic market position of Moody's and Standard &Poors.

Moody's and Standard & Poor's have both warned that they might cut their rating of French government debt, alarming the government in Paris.

A downgrade of Irish debt by Moody's, a ratings agency, added to the nervousness.

According to the Associated Press, Moody's gave Argentina's private banks a negative outlook earlier this month.

He seems confident that the third agency, Moody's, will not downgrade Greece so swiftly.

The Ireland economic crisis continues -- this morning Moody's downgraded the country's debt by a full five notches.

A similar rationale explains why Moody's has a negative outlook on America's rating.

Mark Zandi, an economist at Moody's Economy. com, predicts that the recession will shrink America's economy by 3. 5% in total.

Moody's said that the review was necessary because of the trouble Dexia is having with attracting financing in the wholesale markets.

Moody's Investors Service cut Spain's credit rating one notch to Aa2 and warned of possible further downgrades.

The deadly collision in July in Wenzhou has caused 80 per cent of existing high-speed projects to be put on hold, according to Moody's.

Moody's expects that Portugal, like Greece, will need another loan.

More reassuringly, Moody's, S&P and Fitch, the three major credit-rating agencies, all said France's rating was stable.

Moody's downgraded its AAA credit rating for Lloyds Banking Group .

Moody's spokesman Michael Adler said his firm 'is committed to delivering the highest quality opinions about the securities we rate. '

Three of those were rated Ba, Moody's parlance for double-B, which carries a 0. 77% one-year default rate.

In mid-March Moody's, a rating agency, downgraded Portuguese debt.

The decision came after Moody's downgraded both Italy and Belgium.

Then, in April 1995, Moody's downgraded Canada's key sovereign rating by one notch from Aaa.

It is also an investor Moody's, though it has been selling the firm's stock in recent months.

That does not mean Moody's judgment is sound.

Two weeks after the Moody's downgrade, Japanese stocks were higher.

Last month Moody's put its credit rating under surveillance.

'I wouldn't expect a really dramatic turnaround, ' said Marisa DiNatale, who covers the banking industry for Moody's Economy. com.

The improved controls meant Citigroup was "less likely to face serious reputation risks in the future" , Moody's said.

The market has a significantly more negative view than Moody's.

Essar Steel, rated B1 by Moody's and B by S& P, has operations in India, Indonesia and North America.

n a ranking of 378 American metropolitan areas by job-growth prospects conducted by Moody's Economy. com, Mobile ranked 12th.

Still, it took until 2002 and 2003 for Australia to recover the top credit ratings from Moody's and S& P.

Moody's is also reviewing what disclosure of the error was made.

Moody's, the third big rating agency, has placed Greece's A1 rating on review for a possible cut.

News that Moody's cut Greece's credit rating again because of debt restructuring concerns also contributed to the drop.

"It's a relatively efficient way to get the bad assets off banks' books, " says Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy. com.

Finance Minister Elena Salgado noted that Moody's hadn't placed the country's solvency in doubt.

Meanwhile, Moody's has cut Portugal's debt rating to junk.

Moody's and Standard &Poor's were assumed to know best.

The first agency, Moody's, set out its stall exactly a century ago.

Moody's said it now believed there would be no growth in 2011.

Mr. Finnegan, who has since left Moody's, didn't return calls seeking comment.

Moody's placed Portugal's bond ratings on review for possible downgrade on May 5.

The downgrade wasn't entirely unexpected. Moody's had warned on April 29 that a 'multinotch downgrade' was 'likely. '

According to new research from Moody's Analytics, the top 5% of Americans by income account for 37% of all consumer outlays.

America's biggest banks now boast liquid assets of three to 11 times their short-term borrowings, according to Moody's.

This morning Moody's, a ratings agency, warned it might soon downgrade Spanish debt.

Of 54 defaults on Moody's-rated municipal debts from 1970 to 2009, about 78% were in stand-alone housing and health-care projects.

Moody's earnings rose so high, for example, that its profit margin beat that of all other S&P 500 companies.

Moody's also downgraded the country's short-term issuer rating to not-prime from Prime-1.

From 1985 to 2002, the average American home sold for about 14 times the annual rent for a similar home, according to Moody's Economy. com.

"I think Moody's jumped the gun, " a Wall Street executive said.

Watch Moody's threaten to downgrade H-P's credit.

The euro was little changed following Moody's report, trading at $1. 4453, near its levels before the release.

Downgrades by Moody's had been in prospect for days amid wild gyrations in French banks' share prices.

"Last year the industry was able to get increases in the mid-single digits, " says Michael Levesque, a Moody's analyst.

Moody's predicts such lending will rise 3% next year.

And in February Moody's cut its rating on the firm's debt.

Since 2006, a net 329, 000 jobs have been lost in areas that were hit by the storm, according to data from Moody's Analytics.

They face shocks to their economic model and very large contingent liabilities, but Moody's thinks they can adjust.

Moody's estimates that 8 percent to 12 percent of China's total loan portfolio could be nonperforming: The official figure is 1. 2 percent.

They will each see a 0. 2 percentage point drop in their annual GDP, according to the Moody's Analytics forecasts.

Moody's is impressed by many of Goldman's techniques.

Moody's[10], a ratings agency, cut Spain's credit rating on September 30th.

Moody's says about 7, 000 municipal ratings could be cut.

South Korea's government bond ratings were upgraded from A2 to A1 at Moody's.

If we are well-known, the three major international credit rating agency Standard &Poor's, Fitch, Moody's, they are civil in nature.

Mining companies rallied after copper surged to a record and Moody's Investors Service raised China's debt rating.

According to Moody's there are only seven in the elite club of AAA rated companies in the US.

"Aa2" by Moody's sovereign debt rating in the set of 19 files in the third high.

That is just $2 billion shy of China's entire trade surplus with all its trading partners worldwide, according to Moody's Analytics.

A 50% cut in those fees would reduce big card issuers' pre-tax income by 2-3. 4%, estimates Moody's, a ratings agency.

Moody's shares have fallen by more than 20 per cent in the past month.

Portugal's PSI 20 index and Ireland's ISEQ index both dropped 0. 6% after Moody's warning. Italy's FTSE MIB index slumped 1.

The charge-off rate peaked at just over 7% during the 1991 and 2001 recessions, according to Moody's.

How did Moody's arrive at the Rmb3, 500bn figure?

Moody's enjoys operating margins of 35-40%.

Moody's share price has risen 21 per cent this year to trade on 18 times forecast earnings; Fimalac trades on 21 times.

For example, Cnooc Ltd. will add more safety devices on its drilling equipment, Moody's says.

Moody's later downgraded Ireland's sovereign debt to below investment grade, or junk, sending yields on their 10-year bond to a record 14%.

Spain could need to borrow around 200 billion euros ($268 billion) in 2011, according to Moody's.

The worst default rate in any five-year period since 1970, according to Moody's, is 2. 4 per cent.

'Since last year, private consumption has been rising as fast as, or even faster than nominal GDP growth, ' Moody's said.

Such as Moody's or Standard and Poor's.

Lloyds Banking Group fell 3. 4 per cent to 34. 66p after Moody's cut its rating by one notch, from "AA3" to "A1" .

Mr. Kroll's firm was launched last year to challenge S& P, Moody's and Fitch.

Moody's, for instance, rates as many as 10 trusts in Singapore while it only rates one in Hong Kong, where there are only a handful.

That is down from nearly 10, 000 workers in 1973, according to Moody's Economy. com.

According to Moody's, the rating agency, related party lending totalled 41 per cent of all Russian loans last year.

The downgrade of British sovereign debt by Moody's did not spook the markets. But investors were already worried

Moody's, for example, made 44 per cent of its revenue last year from structured finance deals.

Investment Grade Bond rated BBB and above or Baa and above by Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investor Service respectively

structured finance is the fastest - growing segment of moody ' s business