In a perfect example of the incompetent blasting the incompetent Moody’s is criticizing S&P, Fitch, DBRS Ltd. and Kroll for their ratings in a CMBS transaction.  Moody’s and S&P have absolutely horrendous ratings records stemming from the Financial Crisis, where for greed of fees they consistently rated securities AAA that ended up being pure junk....Read More

Unsurprisingly the market seems to realize that the ratings agencies are simply reflecting the past as opposed to the future.  They were wrong when they gave the banks AAA and AA ratings, and they are wrong with many of them rated BBB even though they are sitting on double the capital that they had in...Read More

The disaster that is Moody’s (MCO) has finally struck again with a massive downgrade of five of the six largest U.S. banks.  These downgrades come despite some of the highest historical liquidity and capital ratios in the banks histories, and improving credit metrics.  Why Moody’s can operate in an oligopoly when their service is complete...Read More

One development that really should have come out of the financial crisis is a stronger change in the credit rating business.  These companies should only be paid by investors and should not be mandatory at all.  These agencies provide a false cushion to investors whom have shown a willingness to buy securities they don’t understand...Read More

Ford’s (F) comeback from the brink of bankruptcy has become more official with the announcement from Moody’s that they have upgraded Ford to investment grade.  This is a fabulous accomplishment as Ford didn’t need to declare bankruptcy despite the worst recession since the “Great Depression.”  I believe Ford’s template will likely be a case study...Read More

In very encouraging news for the municipal bond sector, the amount of insured municipal bonds jumped 60% in the first quarter of 2012 from a year ago, to $3.7 billion.  One of T&T Capital Management’s core positions is in Assured Guaranty (AGO) which is really the only bond insurer writing new business. http://seekingalpha.com/article/476071-assured-guaranty-an-undervalued-diamond-in-the-rough The only...Read More

It is no surprise that Moody’s is hearing it from banks who are trying to protect their credit ratings from downgrades.  Moody’s has constantly been behind the curve and has been truly a destructive force throughout the financial crisis throwing gasoline on fires.  The ratings agencies were an unmitigated disaster rating thousands of securities AAA...Read More

Assured Guaranty (AGO) does a wonderful job replying to Moody’s (MCO) recent announcement that they are evaluating a potential downgrade of the bond insurance company.  In the presentation the company makes a variety of salient points relating to the record of profitability under unprecedented market stress, to the continuing ability to write higher margin business...Read More

It appears that the ratings agencies are back at it with a possible downgrade to AGO announced by Moody’s.  This makes absolutely no sense when you look at the earnings, capital, and the moves the company has made to reduce risk in the portfolio.  If you don’t like volatility AGO is not a good stock...Read More