Moody's Corporation (NYSE: MCO) is the holding company for Moody's Investors Service which performs financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities. The company also ranks the credit-worthiness of borrowers using a standardized ratings scale. The company has a 40% share in the world credit rating market. Image File history File links Moody's_logo. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is a New York City-based stock exchange. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Year 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is a New York City-based stock exchange. ...

Moody's was founded in 1909 by John Moody. Top Institutional owners of Moody's include [1] Berkshire Hathaway and Davis Selected Advisers. Year 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... John Moody (1868 - 1958) was a U.S. financial analyst and investor. ... Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA, NYSE: BRKB) is a holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. ...

Moody's ratings

Long-term obligation ratings

Moody's long-term obligation ratings are opinions of the relative credit risk of fixed-income obligations with an original maturity of one year or more. They address the possibility that a financial obligation will not be honored as promised. Such ratings reflect both the likelihood of default and the probability of a financial loss suffered in the event of default.

Investment grade

Aaa

Obligations rated Aaa are judged to be of the highest quality, with minimal credit risk.

Aa1, Aa2, Aa3

Obligations rated Aa are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk.

A1, A2, A3

Obligations rated A are considered upper-medium grade and are subject to low credit risk.

Baa1, Baa2, Baa3

Obligations rated Baa are subject to moderate credit risk. They are considered medium-grade and as such may possess certain speculative characteristics.

Speculative grade

Ba1, Ba2, Ba3

Obligations rated Ba are judged to have speculative elements and are subject to substantial credit risk.

B1, B2, B3

Obligations rated B are considered speculative and are subject to high credit risk.

Caa1, Caa2, Caa3

Obligations rated Caa are judged to be of poor standing and are subject to very high credit risk.

Ca

Obligations rated Ca are highly speculative and are likely in, or very near, default, with some prospect of recovery of principal and interest.

C

Obligations rated C are the lowest rated class of bonds and are typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal or interest.

Special

WR

Withdrawn Rating

NR

Not Rated

P

Provisional

Short-term taxable ratings

Moody's short-term ratings for taxable securities are opinions of the ability of issuers to honor short-term financial obligations. Ratings may be assigned to issuers, short-term programs or to individual short-term debt instruments. Such obligations generally have an original maturity not exceeding thirteen months, unless explicitly noted.

Moody's employs the following designations to indicate the relative repayment ability of rated issuers:

P-1

Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-1 have a superior ability to repay short-term debt obligations.

P-2

Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-2 have a strong ability to repay short-term debt obligations.

P-3

Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-3 have an acceptable ability to repay short-term obligations.

NP

Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Not Prime do not fall within any of the Prime rating categories.

• Note: Canadian issuers rated P-1 or P-2 have their short-term ratings enhanced by the senior-most long-term rating of the issuer, its guarantor or support-provider.

Short-term tax-exempt ratings

Unlike S&P, Moody's has separate categories for short term municipal bonds. The ratings categories largely overlap, though, and have the same implications for the ability to repay short-term obligations. In the United States, a municipal bond (or muni) is a bond issued by a state, city or other local government, or their agencies. ...

Criticism

See also: Credit rating agency#Criticism

Credit rating agencies such as Moody's have been subject to criticism in the wake of large losses in the Asset backed security collateralized debt obligation (ABS CDO) market that occurred despite being assigned top ratings by the CRAs. For instance, losses on $340.7 million worth of ABS collateralized debt obligations (CDO) issued by Credit Suisse Group added up to about $125 million, despite being rated Aaa by Moody's.^[1] A credit rating agency (CRA) is a company that assigns credit ratings for issuers of certain types of debt obligations. ... A credit rating agency is a company that rates the ability of a person or company to pay back a loan. ... Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) are a type of asset-backed security or structured finance product. ...

References

See also

• Standard & Poor's
• Fitch Ratings
• A.M. Best
• Dominion Bond Rating Service
• Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations
• Reuters
• Bloomberg L.P.
• Morningstar, Inc.

Publications Standard & Poors publishes a weekly (48 times a year) stock market analysis newsletter called The Outlook, which is issued both in print and online to subscribers. ... Fitch Ratings, Ltd. ... A.M. Best Company, Inc. ... Dominion Bond Rating Service is a credit rating agency based in Toronto, Ontario. ... Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations is a United States government designation that was created by Securities and Exchange Commission in 1975 to allow federal regulatory oversight of credit rating organizations. ... Reuters Group plc (LSE: RTR and NASDAQ: RTRSY); pron. ... Bloomberg L.P. is a financial software service company founded by current New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg with the help of Thomas Secunda in 1981. ... Morningstar, Inc. ...

External links

• Moody's
• Credit Raters Exert International Influence (washingtonpost.com)
• The history of Moody's
• Country Ratings
• RSS Feed of Most Recent Moody's Ratings Changes
• Top Institutional Owners of Moody's