Tag Archives: moody’s

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? 290 U.S. cities downgraded! Local tax revenues down, again!

“We expect downgrades to continue outpacing upgrades in the second half of 2012 as local governments navigate an increasingly difficult budgeting environment characterized by anemic revenue growth and significant expenditure pressure on wages and post employment benefits.”-Moody’s statement

09 August 2012, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the largest number of U.S. cities/school districts since 2000.

The latest downgrades mark 14 straight quarters in which municipal bond downgrades exceeded increases!

In another report by Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, tax revenues collected by local governments are down, for the sixth consecutive quarter!

The latest reports and downgrades only adds ammo to the “tip of the iceberg” bankruptcies filed by local governments.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Moody’s declares Greece in full default

Earlier in the day the main stream media was reporting “good” news on the latest agreement between creditors and Greece, but that’s not how Moody’s sees it.

Moody’s says the latest deal actually pushed Greece into automatic default: “According to Moody’s definitions, this exchange represents a ‘distressed exchange’ and therefore a debt default.”

On March 9, 2012, a deal was made that allowed a debt exchange plan hoping to cancel about U.S. $143 billion dollars in Greek government bonds.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Greece downgraded again, even with new bailout loan deals

Moody’s has joined Standard & Poor’s in downgrading Greece.

Last week S&P’s downgraded Greece to default status. Today Moody’s rated Greek bonds at C, saying risk of default is too high even with new bailout loans: “Moody’s believes that Greece will still face medium-term solvency challenges: its stock of debt will still be well in excess of 100 percent of gross domestic product for many years, the country is unlikely to be able to access the private market once the second assistance package runs out, and its planned fiscal and economic reforms will still face very significant implementation risks.”

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Moody’s downgrades Japan’s credit rating, says government is incompetent

Moody’s downgraded Japan, from double A2, to double A3.  Moody’s cited continuing government budget problems, huge government debt, and government incompetence.

One of the signs of government incompetence is what has become a revolving door of government agencies and leaders.  The latest change is that Prime Minister Naoto Kan has resigned, effective by the beginning of September.

Japan is the second largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt.

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Moody’s joins S & P’s in downgrading the U.S.

“The U.S. economy needs to grow 2.5% to 3% per year to add jobs fast enough to keep the unemployment rate stable. This will not happen soon.”-Mark Zandi, Moody’s Analytics

Moody’s Analytics downgraded projected GDP for the Untied States. One month ago they projected GDP to be at a yearly average of 3.5%, for the rest of 2011.  Now they say the U.S. will be lucky if it can hit 2%.

Moody’s also says the chance of an official double dip recession is now 1 in 3.  They also said every 100 point drop in the Dow Jones increases the chances of a double dip recession.

They pointed out that the current job creation rate in the United States falls way short of employment goals for 2012: “Employers will have added about 1.25 million jobs between the fourth quarters of 2010 and 2011, and 2 million more by the fourth quarter of 2012. By then, U.S. employment will still total some 1 million less than expected.”–Mark Zandi  (keep in mind he’s talking about projected job creation, there could be more jobs created, or less)