The DOW was roaring right along, making up most of yesterday’s losses when this news surfaced…
MBIA, Ambac Aaa Credit Ratings Again Under Threat at Moody's
By Emma Moody
June 4 (Bloomberg) -- The Aaa insurance ratings of
MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Corp. are again under threat by Moody's Investors Service after the companies reported deepening losses from the mortgage-market slump. MBIA Insurance Corp.'s insurance financial strength rating may fall to the Aa range, although a drop to the A category is possible, Moody's said in a statement today. Ambac's Assurance Corp.'s ranking would probably be lowered to Aa, Moody's said in a separate statement….
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Before that news hit the tape, Dave from Denver sent us this missive:
How can Ambac POSSIBLY in the world be even remotely a triple-A rated company? Other than the intervention in precious metals, I can't think of a bigger outrage right now than the fact that the rating agencies continue to rate Ambac at triple-A. If you look at some various credit statistics, Ambac is not really even worthy of a single-B rating. All I can say is that Enron's stock chart looked very similar to Ambac's, while Enron was still double-A rated - shortly before it vaporized into thin air...The rating agencies and the SEC should investigated thoroughly on this one.
How about the nickname "Ambust," which closed down 52 cents to $2.48? Yuck!