The big 3 credit ratings firms seem to have missed nearly every major crisis, collapse, bankruptcy and default of the past few decades.
The fear is that they will – belatedly, and without providing any meaningful insight (beyond CYA) further pummel Greek government bonds by lowering their ratings for Greece.
The fear that Standard & Poor’s and/or Moody’s will soon lower the boom (Fitch already has) has Gold rallying, and the US dollar up 0.135 (0.17%).
MarketBeat reports that spreads on Greek borrowing has widened vs Germany to 3.55%, and the cost of insuring a Greek government bond against default for five years, has hit about $397,000 annually (up from $382,000 yesterday).
Equities down 2% at one point, have climbed back to down 1% or less.
It just goes to show you that Ratings Agencies are no different than analysts: You don’t need them in a Bull market, and you don’t want them in a Bear market . . .
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And the markets? They are none too happy about all this:
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