standards and poors

Case-Shiller May 2012 Index Shows Lowest Annual Home Prices Drop in 18 Months

The May 2012 S&P Case Shiller home price index shows a -0.7% price drop from a year ago for over 20 metropolitan housing markets and a -1.0% decline for the top 10 housing markets from May 2011. This is the smallest annual price decline in 18 months.

Debbie Downer S&P Crashes European Denial Party

debbie downerHere comes S&P, throwing their opinions around with threats of a credit downgrade. I guess nation-states now know how Americans feel, being FICO scored over whether they shop at Walmart, literally being denied a job.

By now you're heard S&P has whipped out their weapons of mass destruction on 15 European countries. It's like the entire Eurozone just had war declared on them by Standard and Poors.

It's quite the bloodbath with Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Estonia, Malta, Slovakia, and even the frugal, we actually paid our WWII debt Finland being place on negative credit watches. A negative credit watch is a flip of a coin chance of being downgraded in the next 90 days.

The two other Eurozone countries, Cyprus and Greece are already downgraded, hammered by S&P.

What makes this political, is S&P has some policy prescriptions, they want to see, a new fiscal compact, or a fiscal union, i.e. Euro bonds. S&P has further requirements to come out from under their sovereign credit ratings thumb:

S&P Has a Silver Lining - The Senate Banking Committee Reviews Their Methods

As Wall Street tanks, S&P's downgrade reverberations abound, our S&P labeled dysfunctional government, legislators are fighting back. Beyond the mealy mouthed put downs coming from the administration, the Senate Banking Committee is doing something a little more serious. The Senate panel is now probing S&P for possible violations:

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is looking into the decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the nation’s credit rating for the first time in history, according a committee aide briefed on the matter.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat, is gathering more information on the Aug. 5 decision, which has been criticized by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and other officials in President Barack Obama’s administration, according to the aide, who declined to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Senate Banking Chair, Democrat Tim Johnson:

I am deeply disappointed in S&P’s decision to enter into the game of political punditry.

The thing is, the Senate already held hearings on the credit ratings agencies and they know how absolutely corrupt the system is.

Unpublished

Reactions to the S&P Downgrade of USA Sovereign Debt

china flagChina is having a field day blasting the United States over S&P's downgrade:

The White House on Saturday challenged the ruling by Standard & Poor's to downgrade U.S. long- term credit rating form top rank of AAA to AA+, citing the agency' s decision relied on faulty math and in haste.

Disappointingly, instead of reflecting on themselves and sitting down to fix problems in a cooperated way, the Democrats and Republicans in Washington are questioning the creditability of the downgrade ruling and blaming each other for the ever-first shame of slipping out top credit rating club.

The alarm has rung. It is time for the naughty boys in Washington to stop chicken games before they cause more damages. It is time for the policy-makers in Washington to settle down, to show some sense of responsibility and fix their fiscal problems.

Brace Yourself , Europe Central Bank Goes Italian and Just How Bad Will the S&P Downgrade Be?

Just when you think you've had enough, here comes Italy. The European Central Bank is buying Italian and Spanish government bonds on a massive scale. From the ECB press statement:

  1. The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) welcomes the announcements made by the governments of Italy and Spain concerning new measures and reforms in the areas of fiscal and structural policies. The Governing Council considers a decisive and swift implementation by both governments as essential in order to substantially enhance the competitiveness and flexibility of their economies, and to rapidly reduce public deficits.
  2. The Governing Council underlines the importance of the commitment of all Heads of State or Government to adhere strictly to the agreed fiscal targets, as reaffirmed at the euro area summit of 21 July 2011. A key element is also the enhancement of the growth potential of the economy.
  3. The Governing Council considers essential the prompt implementation of all the decisions taken at the euro area summit. In this perspective, the Governing Council welcomes the joint commitment expressed by Germany and France today.
  4. The Governing Council attaches decisive importance to the declaration of the Heads of State or Government of the euro area in the inflexible determination to fully honour their own individual sovereign signature as a key element in ensuring financial stability in the euro area as a whole.

Yesterday AIG had a AAA Credit Rating

CNBC today absolutely ripped a Standards and Poors spokesman on why yesterday AIG had a AAA credit rating and today, after this deal, it is now A-. They said Standards and Poors is complicit in this disaster and asked the question, which was avoided, never answered on how AIG could have a AAA credit rating until today. Great job CNBC and that is a very good question on these credit ratings companies did not downgrade financial institutions much earlier. The S&P representative did not answer the questions. Watch this video clip and see the disgust upon their faces at the end. Question after question and they just don't get a straight answer.

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