Fitch Ratings

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  State Debt Burden Barely Moved by Deficit Cuts: Report

  By Gil Weinreich, AdvisorOne  |  August 28, 2012

  State budget gaps have shrunk by half compared to the previous year, yet the mountain of debt burdening the states has barely budged—indicating a systemic crisis fueled by unfunded liabilities.

• What Do Credit Ratings Tell Us?

  By Ron DeLegge, ETFguide.com  |  July 26, 2012

  Moody’s Investors Service gave its token credit downgrade to a dozen global banks (IXG) including five of the six largest U.S. banks—and financial stocks responded by shooting higher. What’s going on?

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  Spanish Banks Downgraded as Cyprus Seeks Bailout

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne  |  June 26, 2012

  The troubled eurozone continued to experience turmoil as Moody’s downgraded 28 Spanish banks and Cyprus requested a bailout that could amount to more than half its economy.

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  Spain, Cyprus Downgraded

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne  |  June 14, 2012

  Moody's cut the ratings of Spain and Cyprus on Wednesday. Bond yields topped 7% for Spain, and in Italy’s first bond sale since Spain’s bailout yields surged.

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  Italy Next, Austrian Minister Says

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne  |  June 12, 2012

  Mere days after Spain received a bailout deal, wary investors and some eurozone officials turned their attention to Italy, proving that contagion fears are far from soothed.

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  Moodys Downgrades Nordic Banks, Investors Yawn

  By John Sullivan, AdvisorOne  |  May 29, 2012

  Those AAA-rated subprime loans certainly didn’t help.

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  Spanish Banks Downgraded

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne  |  May 18, 2012

  Moody’s cut the ratings of 16 Spanish banks, taking Banco Santander and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria down three notches each. Fitch, meanwhile, dropped Greece into its lowest level in junk territory.

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  Gilts Drop on Austerity

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne  |  April 16, 2012

  While yields are still near record lows and support lingers for austerity policies in some sectors, those policies are backfiring on the bond market in the U.K., with gilts losing 1.92% in Q1.

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  Fitch Cuts U.K. Outlook

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne  |  March 15, 2012

  Fitch Ratings has downgraded the outlook for Britain after saying that the nation could lose its AAA rating because of a limited ability to deal with financial shocks.

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  Greece Launches Bond Swap

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne  |  February 24, 2012

  Greece on Friday took the next step in a second bailout package after Parliament passed a law Thursday that requires all its bondholders to accept losses once a certain percentage of creditors have agreed.