Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Fitch Ratings Inc. is an American credit rating agency. It is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations ( NRSRO ) designated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is considered as being one of the " Big Three credit rating agencies ", [ 3 ] along with Moody's and Standard & Poor's .
In August 2011, S&P downgraded the long-held triple-A rating of US securities. [1] On August 1, 2023, Fitch downgraded its credit-rating of United States Treasuries from AAA to AA+, as S&P had twelve years earlier, leaving only Moody's to still assign its highest rating to the country's debt.
This is a list of U.S. states by credit rating, showing credit ratings for sovereign bonds as reported by the three major credit rating agencies: Standard & Poor's, Fitch and Moody's. The list is given as of May 2021.
For Fitch, a bond is considered investment grade if its credit rating is BBB− or higher. Bonds rated BB+ and below are considered to be speculative grade, sometimes also referred to as "junk" bonds. [104] Fitch Ratings typically does not assign outlooks to sovereign ratings below B− (CCC and lower) or modifiers.
S&P is considered the largest of the Big Three credit-rating agencies, which also include Moody's Ratings and Fitch Ratings. [2] Its head office is located on 55 Water Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. [3]
Together, Moody's, S&P and Fitch are sometimes referred to as the Big Three credit rating agencies. While credit rating agencies are sometimes viewed as interchangeable, Moody's, S&P and Fitch in fact rate bonds differently; for example, S&P and Fitch Ratings measure the probability that a security will default, while Moody's ratings seek to measure the expected losses in the event of a ...
A bond is considered investment grade or IG if its credit rating is BBB− or higher by Fitch Ratings or S&P, or Baa3 or higher by Moody's, the so-called "Big Three" credit rating agencies. Generally they are bonds that are judged by the rating agency as likely enough to meet payment obligations that banks are allowed to invest in them.
Mercantile credit agencies—the precursors of today's rating agencies—were established in the wake of the financial crisis of 1837. These agencies rated the ability of merchants to pay their debts and consolidated these ratings in published guides. [8] The first such agency was established in 1841 by Lewis Tappan in New York City.