Wednesday morning, Standard & Poor's announced that it may cut AT&T's (T) credit rating because the company could have trouble reducing its debt load within a "reasonable timeframe."

The ratings house placed the communications firm on CreditWatch negative with implications, which includes the company's "A" rating and its "A-1" short-term and commercial paper ratings. S&P stated, that it expects "a potential downgrade of the corporate credit rating, if any, would be limited to one notch." This news has had very little impact on the stock, as shares of the titan of telecom were trading near break-even by late morning.

Continue reading Standard & Poor's May Downgrade AT&T

Standard & Poor's May Downgrade AT&T originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Options Update: BP Volatility Elevated; Fitch Downgrades Debt originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: DJIA component earnings lift market (EBAY, HTE, MI, MCD, MMM)

Closing Bell: DJIA component earnings lift market (EBAY, HTE, MI, MCD, MMM) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: When rising bond yields hurt stocks (BAC, BSX, GM, PG, SNDK)

Closing Bell: When rising bond yields hurt stocks (BAC, BSX, GM, PG, SNDK) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 27 May 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Moody's cut Sony Corp.'s (NYSE: SNE) long-term ratings from A2 to A3 today. Slowing growth, price declines, and a strong yen were given as the reasons.

The company expects a second consecutive year of losses and is getting ready to kick off a restructuring plan. Nonetheless, the credit rating agency doesn't expect the Japanese electronics firm to overcome the effects of the global financial crisis -- especially for high-end, high-margin products.

Continue reading Moody's downgrades Sony

Moody's downgrades Sony originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 27 May 2009 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

On Friday, Standard & Poor's lowered its corporate credit rating for ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG). The ratings firm lowered CAG's rating to "BBB" from "BBB+" and removed all ratings on the company from CreditWatch with negative implications, attributing the move to weak credit and high operating costs.

S&P noted that higher operating costs have hurt margins, particularly in CAG's consumer foods segment. This part of CAG's business brought in 64% of the firm's fiscal 2008 revenue.

S&P believes that CAG will "modestly improve" credit measures from current levels during the next two years. S&P could revise CAG's outlook to negative if the firm becomes more aggressive in its financial policy. Currently, CAG's outlook is stable.

Continue reading ConAgra's corporate credit rating is downgraded

ConAgra's corporate credit rating is downgraded originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading S&P downgrades outlook on GE -- another multi-year first

S&P downgrades outlook on GE -- another multi-year first originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Subprime bailout could lead homeowners to tank their credit scores originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Motley Fool's Dan Caplinger takes a look at the issue of credit piggybacking, and what the industry is looking to do about it. Basically, someone with a low credit score can pay someone with a better score to add them to their accounts as an authorized user, without actually using the account. There are companies that offer this "service" and, needless to say, the credit card companies aren't happy about it because it distorts credit. It allows completely irresponsible people to buy good FICO scores. It's no different than buying SAT scores from someone else to get into a good college.

While it's hard to have too much sympathy for the credit card companies, they have a right to be upset here. Fair Isaac (NYSE: FIC) has simply elected to stop considering authorized users when calculating credit scores, which seems like a logical step.

A crackdown on piggybacking could also lead to the demise of one of the easiest ways for parents to build credit histories for their children: adding them as authorized users. I'd like to see this end as well because the principle is the same. People should not get credit for stuff they had nothing to do with. It also reeks of nepotism, and seems unfair to kids whose parents don't have good credit. Do we really need to give rich kids another advantage? By piggybacking off their parents credit, kids with responsible parents can have great credit scores without ever having a credit card. Kids with less fortunate parents don't have that opportunity, and that's wrong.

There's no intelligent reason that piggybacking on credit should be allowed, and it will probably be stopped soon.

Piggybacking for credit and the industry's crackdown originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.