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How Moody's sold its ratings -- and sold out investors
How Moody's sold its ratings -- and sold out investors
WASHINGTON -- As the housing market collapsed in late 2007, Moody's Investors Service, whose investment ratings were widely trusted, responded by purging analysts and executives who warned of trouble and promoting those who helped Wall Street plunge the country into its worst financial crisis ...
Moody's Blues
angrybear.blogspot.com — Robert Waldmann This McClatchy article by Kevin G Hall seems important to me. It does rely a lot on accusations by disgruntled ex employees, but I guess that is unavoidable. The lede WASHINGTON -- As the housing market collapsed in late 2007, Moody's ... (more) Moody's Blues
First Republic Bank Sold to Investors
fastswings.com — Bank of America missed it’s last quarterly estimate by 23.8% and has seen analysts reduce their expectations for the fourth quarter of 2009, the first quarter of 2010, and the year ending in December (more) First Republic Bank Sold to Investors
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McClatchy: "How Moody's sold its ratings"
Calculated Risk — Kevin Hall at McClatchy Newspapers writes: How Moody's sold its ratings -- and sold out investors (ht Atrios) A McClatchy investigation has found that Moody's punished executives who questioned why the company was risking its reputation by putting its profits ahead of providing trustworthy ratings for investment offerings. Instead, Moody's promoted executives who headed its "structured finance" division, which assisted Wall Street in packaging loans into securities for sale to investors. It also stacked its compliance department with the people who awarded the ...

Moody's Blues
Angry Bear — ... This McClatchy article by Kevin G Hall seems important to me. It does rely a lot on accusations by disgruntled ex employees, but I guess that is unavoidable. ...

links for 2009-10-18
Economist's View — ... The free market is not up to the job of creating work - FT.com How Moody's sold its ratings -- and sold out investors - McClatchy ...

"How Moody's Sold its Ratings -- and Sold Out Investors"
Economist's View — ... How Moody's sold its ratings -- and sold out investors, by Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers: As the housing market collapsed in late 2007, Moody's Investors Service, whose investment ratings were widely trusted, responded by purging analysts and executives who warned of trouble and promoting those who helped Wall Street plunge the country into its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. ...

Lunchtime Links 10-19
Rolfe Winkler — Stopping by the Value Investor Congress today….still getting over the Bears’ ATROCIOUS loss last night…. MUST READ: How Moody’s sold its ratings — and sold out investors (McClatchy) Great stuff from Kevin Hall. Sorry, no jobs. This is California (Reuters) 12.2% unemployment rate in the Golden State. With privilege comes…? (PIMCO) Downward pressure on the dollar to continue, but will it be a rout? FDIC failed to limit commercial real estate loans (Bloomberg) ...

Perverted ratings helped sink the ship
European Tribune — The ratings agencies were part of the system failure that led to the current interesting economic times. McClatchy's explain some of how that happened: WASHINGTON -- As the housing market collapsed in late 2007, Moody's Investors Service, whose investment ratings were widely trusted, responded by purging analysts and executives who warned of trouble and promoting those who helped Wall Street plunge the country into its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. A McClatchy investigation has found that Moody's punished executives who questioned why the company was ...

Tuesday morning links
The Mess That Greenspan Made — ... - TimesOnline The Myth of The Strong Dollar Policy - Macro Man REAL ESTATE Homes: About to get much cheaper - CNN/Money 59% of New Home Sales Use Government Loans: John Burns - HousingWire Obama issues short-term program to boost home buying - MarketWatch U.S. Commercial Property Values Fall 3% in August - Bloomberg FED/TREASURY/BANKING On America's spenders and Asia's savers - Wash. Post How Moody's sold its ratings - and sold out investors - McClatchey With eye on recovery, ...

The Problem at Moody’s
The Baseline Scenario — ... Kevin Hall of McClatchy has an article  about Moody’s that goes beyond the usual — giving AAA ratings to products “structured by cows” and taking money from the cows (actually, the “cows” comment was from S&P). He documents how Moody’s forced out executives who questioned the lax rating policies, replaced them with executives from the structured finance division, and filled its compliance division with people from that same division. ...

Weekend Linky Dinks
UpsideTrader — ... but managed a close just pennies away from 1080. Technically significant enough to start a downward trend? Who knows? The greenback looks well done and on its way to being burnt, so I still like the commodity and material plays. Have a great weekend with your families and enjoy the links. Meriwether , blow up two hedge funds, open a third, and proudly state that you will be using the same strategy. Just learn to love insider trading . How Moody’s sold its ratings and sold out investors . My one real peeve, why I cant I buy insurance in Alaska f I want? ...

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