triple a

He said it isn't just a possible French downgrade, but other triple-A countries as well, such as Austria.

"No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple A-country, " he said.

Analysts have been digging into records to see how Japanese bonds traded after it was stripped of its triple-A credit rating in 1998.

Alex Stubb said in an interview he did not believe new institutions should be created to give the triple A countries more power.

The triple A-rated countries have left no doubt that they are willing to support the system, but only up to a certain point.

"There is not a dispersed ratings scale in China, everything seems to be rated double or triple A, " he said.

And the balance sheet is still one of the strongest around, even though the company no longer carries a triple-A debt rating.

Shockingly, two-thirds of that stemmed from supposedly triple-A CDOs, which by then were deemed to be worth only half of their face value.

The Gaussian cupola created the sort of financial alchemy that made high-risk mortgages and credit card debt look like triple-A rated gold.

There is talk on European trading desks today that it would be the next country to lose its triple-A credit rating if the fund expands.

AIG was considered a weighty and utterly reliable market player, and like JP Morgan, it basked in the sun of a triple-A credit rating.

Mr Obama said the Republican approach might still lead to a downgrade of the country's triple-A credit rating.

With a triple A rating, AIG was an attractive counterparty for swap transactions.

By pooling risky loans and tranching their cash flows, triple A-rated assets could be synthetically generated to make up for the shortfall.

Cuts will be made, they'll be too little too late, but at least they will be enough to maintain a triple-A rating.

Triple-A-rated Singapore's dollar has risen 1% against the U. S. dollar since the start of the month.

S& P said after markets closed Friday that U. S. Treasury debt is no longer worthy of its triple-A rating.

A default would knock triple-A U. S. ratings down to at least selective default category overnight.

Leveraging also massively increases the probability of a loss for the triple A-rated member states, who ultimately provide the insurance.

Masters liked to refer to it as "more than triple-A" , since it was deemed even safer than triple A-rated securities.

Given the high probability of all nations being able to service this debt tranche, these bonds ought to receive the triple A rating.

"One of our biggest challenges as an industry is how to restore the triple-A investor base for securitisations, " says the ESF's Mr Watson.

S&P said last week that the country is already in danger of losing its triple-A rating as a result of its weak fiscal situation.

other securities offer a much lower yield but a triple-A credit rating, because a lot of defaults would be needed to trigger losses.

To put these moves into context, before the credit crunch European triple A mortgage-backed debt was yielding spreads of less than 10bp.

Another question was whether the downgrade would force selling in portfolios with mandates to hold only triple-A-rated investments.

The Triple A's website offers a parent-teen driving contract that includes agreeing to pull off the road before using a cell phone.

France has not balanced its budget since the 1970s and is fretting about its Triple-A rating.

It found that US governance had become "less stable, less effective and less predictable" when it downgraded the US from triple-A in August.

A: Maybe a few: some pension funds, university endowments and other big investors are required to hold triple-A securities.

Berkshire recently lost its cherished triple-A credit rating and its shares have slipped by 18% over the last 12 months.

Not only America's triple-A credit rating could be threatened; some point to consequences in foreign affairs and defence as well.

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

It also took financial chicanery to turn reckless mortgage lending in to triple A rated securities.

One of the factors that will make them hard to value is the incalculable probability that France might lose its triple A rating.

Agencies' attempt to do so just led banks to package securities so as to obtain triple-A ratings.

The products remained triple A until January this year when, amid general market declines, they were downgraded several notches.

If the bond insurers lose their triple-A credit rating, the bonds and other instruments that they insure also would be downgraded.

S&P has rated Uncle Sam continuously since 1941, and through war and peace it has always had the top triple-A rating.

France, fearful that rising bailout costs could jeopardize its own triple-A credit rating, dropped its objections.

The only exception is the flight to safety in the liabilities of triple A rated governments.

Against that background, Mr Osborne is right to guard the UK's triple A status, keeping borrowing costs down.

This idea, if correct, would be more brilliant than the creation of triple A paper out of garbage.

Further, America is not the weakest of the 17 nations that currently enjoy such triple A ratings.

It is a truism that triple A rated bonds are risk free in the sense that the actual return on the bond is the same as the expected return.

That GE had to accept such onerous terms -- and sell new common stock -- is remarkable for a triple-A-rated company.

Once that happens, the holders of the top tranches, those once rated triple A, can opt to liquidate the CDO.

That in turn would have affect the EFSF's own lending capacity, which equals the share of the triple A-rated countries.

The United States has had the best possible credit rating, triple-A, since 1917.

He said a survey of investors had shown that they are very reluctant to lose tags such as "triple A" .

In October 1992, when S& P cut Canada's foreign debt rating by one notch from triple-A, there was little impact on Canadian markets.

A big part of the answer depends on whether the UK government remains a triple-A rated sovereign borrower.

Monday, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services put Pfizer's triple-A credit rating on watch for downgrade after news of the deal.

That is largely reflected by the fact that government debt has become the triple A asset of choice since the credit crisis.

Black boxes again fell into disrepute and the cachet of a triple-A credit rating has diminished.

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

Take the growing amount of bank debt issued with a government guarantee, which is typically triple-A-rated.

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

Other evidence suggests that various people knew that the deal's triple-A credit ratings were dubious.

And 1902, birth of the Triple A as the American Automobile Association is founded in Chicago.

The Magnetar controversy centres on how it financed its bet against the triple-A tranches of CDOs that Citi trusted.

An explicit guarantee could also tarnish the U. S. "triple-A" rating.

Then, in an unprecedented move in August, the firm cut the triple-A rating of long-term U. S. debt.

The downgrade by Standard & Poor's of US sovereign debt, from triple A to double A plus, was precipitate, wrong and dangerous.

Managing market expectations will be another route to keep interest costs down - further helping to preserve triple-A status.

Outside the euro zone, Fitch said Britain was among the most vulnerable triple A-rated countries.

The bloc's rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, relies heavily on France for its triple A status.

Such is likely to be the response of any investor in Japan to the news that Standard & Poor's has removed its triple A rating on US debt.

Two American icons, General Electric and Berkshire Hathaway, lost their triple-A credit ratings.

U. S. Treasuries are still triple-A in that there is no question that we will repay the interest and the principal.

Many bonds rated triple-A ended up getting downgraded to 'junk, ' unleashing mayhem in the financial system.

The moves came amid further evidence that securities with triple-A credit ratings were not as creditworthy as thought.

The resulting flight to quality saw triple A-rated government bonds move higher, pushing yields lower.

If they are disappointed, Britain could lose its triple-a borrowing status and face higher interest costs, exacerbating the fiscal crisis.

As triple-A rated investments turned sour, a disastrous unravelling of bank balance sheets ensued.

Bill Gross, the bond fund manager, has mused it will not be long before the US loses its triple A credit rating.

These spreads ballooned out to a euro-era record high of 166 basis points for 10-year debt, a big difference for two triple A borrowers.

It benefits from net cash of $30 billion, twinned with a rare triple-A credit rating.

It was not public sector workers who gave triple-A risk ratings to those investments.

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.

Earlier this month, the same credit rating agency that downgraded the US confirmed our triple A rating.

The prices of credit default swaps have signaled for months some downgrades of triple-A companies.

Dagong's triple-A rated sovereigns include Norway, Switzerland and Singapore.

The EFSF must reinvest the buffer in the best triple A rated securities in the market.

There are several other related myths, as the Triple-A points out, despite the popularity of zero percent car loans.

America's own triple-A rating, its superpower status, is being downgraded as rapidly as its economy.

Then triple A-rated countries, including even the US, might lose all fiscal headroom.

Technically, double-A-plus is considered 'high-grade' credit, while triple-A is 'prime. '

Japan lost its triple A rating long ago and has national debt well in excess of 200% of GDP but its bond yields remain extremely low.

French bank shares were hammered Wednesday also, with some traders citing the triple-A jitters.

Spreads on debt have risen recently such that even triple-A titans are borrowing on onerous terms.

Even though it has a triple-A credit rating, Wells Fargo is paying up.

That Germany and France should not be triple-A rated in the first place?

The EFSF last week obtained a triple A rating, which will help it raise cash in the bond markets at good rates.

Triple-A predict some 38 million Americans will drive somewhere even though gas prices are floating with record high levels.

Now Mr Sarkozy lies awake each night worrying that France might lose its triple A credit rating.

Mortgage securities, perhaps, triple-A rated and arranged by Wall Street's finest.

It revealed how asset-backed securities accounted for about two-thirds of the explosive growth in triple A securities between 1990 and 2006.

Many have long regarded triple-A-rated Treasurys as essentially 'risk free. '

The market clearly views China's triple-A-rated bonds as more risky than their overseas counterparts based on default insurance prices.

Nevertheless, there is speculation the leading credit rating agencies may lower America's rating below triple A.

Britain's triple-A credit rating seems assured, unlike France's (see article).

Do you think Germany will lose its triple A rating?

Will the U. S. 's triple-A rating be next under the microscope?

In France, Spain or Japan a mile of high-speed track costs triple a conventional mile.

Instead of being told to invest in only triple-A securities, investors could buy bonds with low swap spreads.

Our currency, the dollar, is not triple-A. Our bonds are.

This was a triple-A crisis.

Investors sold bonds issued by triple-A rated France and Austria.

Britain's triple A is not currently under threat.

Here is one: Why did you allow MBIA to keep its triple-A rating for so long?

Blame, if you like, the dysfunction in Washington and the unsatisfying deal that led Standard & Poor's to remove America's triple A rating.

Only a minority of eurozone members backing the fund have a triple A rating.

"It tells you something about the meaning of triple A in the bond-insurance field. "

The country lost its top triple A rating at the end of March.

The weekend already saw theatrics on who lost America's triple A.

(Triple A) Answer any and all criticism with "we got better" .

But for all those who are stuck somewhere between "knowing" and "doing, " we've called in our triple-A-list team of motivators.

For a conservative, triple-A-rated bank such as Rabobank, Asia presents a conundrum.

Standard & Poor's already has the UK's triple-A rating under negative watch.

Most ABS receive the highest rating -- triple-A -- from the major credit rating agencies.

This is progress and should have counted for, not against, the triple A rating.

I'm pretty sure America will lose its triple-A rating.

Triple A rating is the highest for a trusted bond.

Even prices of bonds issued by fiscally upright Northern European triple-A nations such as Finland and the Netherlands fell.

Yet in the past eight months we've seen our credit rating - which was on the brink of being downgraded - affirmed at the triple A level.

But even in these more cautious times, the triple-A rating has the potential to distort key markets and lead to problems in the future.

Until September last year at least one of the three large agencies rated Spain at the highest level of triple A.

But it is clear that ratings will still play a big role with triple A debt the star.

Triple-A-rated munis with 30-year maturities are yielding about 5. 25%, almost double the yield on 30-year Treasuries.

In January 2008, there were 12 triple A-rated companies in the world.

Even so lenders, in this case the government, will provide it because the bonds are rated triple-A.

By borrowing money to buy triple A rated securities backed by car loans, the returns available can reach 20 per cent.

A youth track meet held by the D Triple A, the Dwarf Athletic Association of America.

Second, there are 17 nations which, today, have a triple A rating.

This is triple-A drivel.

For example, the credit rating agencies, which rated Abacus 2007-AC1 triple A, were not named as defendants.

Our bonds aren, t triple A because they are devalued by inflation and we have a 14 trillion national debt!

His response has been to triple a tax on foreign purchases of Brazilian bonds.

If we don't, for the first time ever, we could lose our country's Triple A credit rating.