The announcement was delayed but brutal. While markets have somewhat relaxed their attention on Greece, the rating agency Moody's downgraded four notches Monday of the note of most indebted country in the euro area, "A3" to "Ba1". After his colleague Standard & Poor's, the second of the three agencies have downgraded the debt of Greek in junk bonds.
The announcement comes as setbacks. "Moody's has not sufficiently changed its ratings on European countries, the sudden it went off the crisis," Norbert J. Gaillard, a consultant to the World Bank and specialized rating agencies. The degradation of the note in Greece four notches therefore reads as an attempt to "catch up past blindness," said the economist.
A blindness that also concerns Spain, according to some analysts. And the investors live badly."What is it to follow a triple A rating agency that a country undergoing a difference in rates reflecting the risk very high?" Critic Jean-Francois Robin, strategist at Natixis, referring to Spain . The latter receives the same notes that France and Germany, so it pays interest rates much higher.
Sign of disapproval or casual coincidence? Pierre Cailleteau, the head of the sovereign rating from Moody's, that is to say, fixing States Notes, recently left the company. The agency would not comment on his departure.
Stoicism
Greece, or Spain, are textbook examples and betray policy at Moody's. The agency notes in effect "through the economic cycle", without giving too much importance to the market turmoil. This stoicism was removed Moody's market reality, but had a beneficial effect.The agency has helped calm the markets by keeping his notes. His rivals, degrading the height of the crisis, have instead fueled the panic.
Now, even out of season, the degradation of the note in Greece by Moody's has led to protests. The European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Olli Rehn, said that Moody's decision on Greece on Tuesday "comes at a rather surprising and unfortunate, following the agreement on a program of macroeconomic adjustment between Greece, the Commission, the ECB and the IMF. "
- Squabble between the rating agencies
- Moody's puts Spain and Portugal under pressure
- Threats around the U.S. debt crisis
- Germany ready to help Greece
- "Greece must make structural reforms"