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Moody's decision to place California's general obligation debt on alert for a possible "multi-notch" downgrade stunned state officials.

California's chances of borrowing in capital markets grew slimmer Friday as Moody's Investors Service warned that it could downgrade the economically and fiscally beleaguered state's bond ratings.

Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, warned on Thursday the US was “going the way of the UK” and will eventually lose its top AAA credit rating - a fear that had already spooked financial markets on Thursday and could keep the dollar, stocks and bonds under heavy selling pressure, reports Reuters. The US will face a downgrade in “at least three to four years, if that, but the market will recognise the problems before the rating services — just like it did today,” said Gross, co-chief investment officer of Pimco and manager of the Pimco Total...

Why U.S. Treasuries look increasingly unattractive. BY TIERNAN RAY OOOF! It's a tough day for sovereign credit. Rating agency Standard and Poor's this morning lowered its outlook on the U.K.'s debt from Stable to Negative on concerns that the Kingdom's borrowing could reach 100% of its gross domestic product by 2013. This is a potential prelude to an eventual cut in the U.K.'s triple-A rating. The U.S. may not be as close to the U.K. at getting its credit spanked, but the U.S.'s ballooning deficits and heavy borrowing make U.S. Treasuries increasingly look unappealing.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's shocked investors Thursday with a formal warning that the U.K. must get its finances in order or lose its coveted triple-A credit rating, underscoring the monumental challenges the country faces as it seeks to dig its economy out from under the wreckage of the financial crisis. U.K. stocks plunged and the pound slid against the dollar after S&P announced that it had changed its outlook for the U.K.'s credit rating to negative -- meaning that a downgrade, while not imminent, could come sometime in the next few years. S&P said it will revisit the U.K.'s...

Rated F for Failure By JEROME S. FONS and FRANK PARTNOY WHEN Standard & Poor’s, the bond-rating agency, lowered General Electric’s rating to AA+, from AAA, last week, many were shocked at the tarnishing of one of America’s most revered corporations. But the real scandal is how long it took S.&P. to make that minor change — and that the other major ratings firm, Moody’s, still hasn’t — even though G.E.’s dividend has been slashed by two-thirds and its stock price had fallen below $7, from nearly $40 a year ago. Why, more than a year into the crisis, do...

California today was branded the worst credit risk of all 50 states, after Standard & Poor’s cut its rating on the state’s debt because of the budget impasse. S&P lowered its rating on the state’s $46 billion in general obligation bonds to "A" from "A-plus," citing "the state's inability to reach an agreement on a mid-year budget revision and its rapidly eroding cash position." Until now, California and Louisiana had been tied for last place, at "A-plus," on S&P’s state ratings list. Most states are rated either "AA" or "AAA." "At its current level, the rating generally recognizes our view...

California's credit rating was dinged Thursday by Standard & Poor's, which cited the state's worsening budget crisis. The firm's rating on $5 billion of short-term notes the state sold in October was cut one notch, from SP-1 to SP-2. S&P also warned that its A-plus rating on $46.6 billion of California general obligation bonds, which are long-term debt, might be lowered. With the state already tied with Louisiana for the lowest credit rating of all the states, a downgrade would leave California alone at the bottom. (Most states are rated AA or AAA.) S&P said its actions "reflect our opinion...

Government plans new credit, mortgage programs By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer 19 mins ago WASHINGTON – The government introduced a pair of new programs Tuesday that will provide $800 billion to help unfreeze the market for consumer debt and to make mortgage loans cheaper and more available.

Washington--The government is working on a new loan facility to help companies that issue credit cards, make student loans and finance car purchases. The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve will unveil the program Tuesday, according to people familar with the plan. They spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has yet to be made. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said he plans to use a "relatively modest share" of the $700 billion financial bailout money to pay for the new program. It's the latest effort by the government to break through a dangerous credit clog that has...

Credit crunch for consumers As card issuers hike rates, consumers forced to work harder to protect credit By Andrea Coombes, MarketWatch Last update: 1:36 p.m. EST Nov. 23, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- As credit-card issuers raise rates and fees and lower credit limits, consumers face higher-cost debt -- and more work maintaining their credit score. In some cases, banks' former darlings -- consumers who paid consistently and on time but let their balances ride -- now are being hit hardest, asked to stomach higher interest rates and fees or try their luck with different card issuers. For instance, some...

March 22, 2008 Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers face downgrading Tom Bawden in New York Profits at Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers could deteriorate significantly this year if the turmoil sweeping the capital markets persists, a leading research agency said yesterday. Standard & Poor's (S&P) gave warning that it might cut the credit ratings on both investment banks, lowering the outlook on Goldman and Lehman from “stable” to “negative”. That comment, which coincided with reports of looming job losses at Goldman, could result in higher borrowing costs and a fall in the banks' shares. S&P praised Goldman Sachs for producing...

THEY don’t come much more blue-chip than General Electric of the US. The company – valued at nearly $350 billion (£178 billion) – is almost like a nation state. It’s seen as the ultimate safe bet – powerful, genuinely global, diversified. And when the company produced its 2007 results last month, GE was able to boast record earnings. From jet engines to windpower turbines, from refrigerators to railway locomotives, GE has its finger in every industrial pie. And while other companies have been buffeted by the turbulence of the credit crunch, GE has apparently remained above it all. At the...

I've said it before and I feel it ought to be said again and again: - Don't let anyone tell you Sweden is a Socialist paradise and an example of how socialism can be "successful". We've been moving towards Conservatism and Capitalism since the mid 1980's. Still much left to do, though. In any case, I feel optimistic. To begin with, we have a Conservative government that, obviously, know what it is doing. By the way, it ought to be noticed that many other parts of Europe are beginning to wake up out of their socialist slumber as well. Not...

A Wall Street bond house raised California's credit ratings Wednesday, breaking the state's long-standing tie with hurricane-ravaged Louisiana for the worst credit marks in the nation. Standard & Poor's raised its rating on the state's general obligation bonds from "A" to "A+," and its rating on lease-supported debt from "A-" to "A." Standard & Poor's top bond rating is AAA. "The improvement being seen in California can be traced back to strong economic growth in almost all sectors and geographic regions of the state, as well as a spike in stock market and housing-related capital gains tax revenues," wrote Standard...

THE LEGACY COSTS OF DOING BUSINESSOn the back of both Ford [NYSE: F] and General Motors [NYSE: GM] having their credit ratings reduced to junk status this past week ? I thought it might be appropriate to take a closer look at why?Some would have us believe that North American automakers simply don’t build them like they used to! Well, being a proud owner of a 1980 Cutlass Supreme, with less than 100k original kilometers on the clock, I would concur with this line of thought. But then again, who really does build them the way they used to anyway? ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - When he tried to refinance his home with a low-interest loan three years ago, Alan R. Sporn says he was turned down because Home Depot's repeated inquiries about his financial status had damaged his credit rating. Now it's likely he'll be able to pay off all his loans after an appeals court upheld a $930,000 damage judgment against Home Depot that, with interest, now stands at $1.15 million. ........snip......... After he was turned down for the loan on his Laguna Hills home, Sporn said he learned Home Depot had contacted credit agencies about his finances at...

LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The notion that rating agencies may one day downgrade the U.S. government's triple-A bond rating triggered financial market discussion on Tuesday about the previously unthinkable and added more pressure to the dollar. An article in the Wall Street Journal Europe said that analysts and investors had begun to "question the unquestionable" amid worries about budget and trade deficits and the weak dollar. The article made no suggestion that any downgrade was actually in the works from the big three ratings agencies -- Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch. But it cited a research note by...

<p>The state is facing an increasingly skeptical Wall Street as legislators fail to resolve a $38.2 billion budget deficit -- raising the prospect that Californians could pay millions of dollars in extra borrowing costs in the future.</p> <p>Unless a budget is passed, the state is expected to run out of cash in early September, a prospect that is raising alarms on Wall Street. Two major credit-rating agencies are reviewing the state's creditworthiness and could reduce it in the next two to three months if the legislature does not pass a budget that actually balances spending with revenue.</p>

State AAA credit worthiness on watch By MALCOLM JOHNSON The Associated Press 4/1/03 11:35 AM LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The state has about 90 days to convince a major credit-rating company that it has its fiscal house in order and its high rating shouldn't be lowered, the state treasurer said Monday. "They're concerned about our game plan," Jay Rising said of the decision by Moody's Investors Service Inc. to place Michigan on a credit watch list. A spokesman for the Department of Treasury said Moody's is concerned about past Michigan budget practices, not the current proposed spending plan being debated...