Over the last few weeks I have been posting some Spines about the rating agencies, the insurance companies and the insurers's insurers. Most of the important ones have been coming down...down...down. Moody's is at a two year low. MBI is at a four year low, down from historic highs during calendar year 2007.
The problem is that the raters (Moody's, S & P, Fitch) have been deceitful in their ratings. Many triple AAAs are worth almost nothing, certainly in comparison to their stock price. Even already deflated MBI has a long way to go...but only south. Let me confess that I am short about these issues, and I intend to stay short until a few of them go bust.
My partner in the start-up of The Street and my first Wall Street guru, Jim Cramer, commented on some of these securities mid-day today, cautiously but without hedging. Watch him on The Street. (The preceding video ad is very short.)