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One Less In The AAA Club: Moody's Downgrades FrAAnce From AAA To Aa1 - Full Text
After hours shots fired, with Moody's hitting the long overdue one notch gong on France:
- MOODY'S DOWNGRADES FRANCE'S GOVT BOND RATING TO Aa1 FROM Aaa
- FRANCE MAINTAINS NEGATIVE OUTLOOK BY MOODY'S
Euro tumbling. In other news, UK: AAA/Aaa; France: AA+/Aa1... Let the flame wars begin
From the release:
Moody's decision to downgrade France's rating and maintain the negative outlook reflects the following key interrelated factors:
1.) France's long-term economic growth outlook is negatively affected by multiple structural challenges, including its gradual, sustained loss of competitiveness and the long-standing rigidities of its labour, goods and service markets.
2.) France's fiscal outlook is uncertain as a result of its deteriorating economic prospects, both in the short term due to subdued domestic and external demand, and in the longer term due to the structural rigidities noted above.
3.) The predictability of France's resilience to future euro area shocks is diminishing in view of the rising risks to economic growth, fiscal performance and cost of funding. France's exposure to peripheral Europe through its trade linkages and its banking system is disproportionately large, and its contingent obligations to support other euro area members have been increasing. Moreover, unlike other non-euro area sovereigns that carry similarly high ratings, France does not have access to a national central bank for the financing of its debt in the event of a market disruption.
RATINGS RATIONALE
The first driver underlying Moody's one-notch downgrade of France's sovereign rating is the risk to economic growth, and therefore to the government's finances, posed by the country's persistent structural economic challenges. These include the rigidities in labour and services markets, and low levels of innovation, which continue to drive France's gradual but sustained loss of competitiveness and the gradual erosion of its export-oriented industrial base.
The rise in France's real effective exchange rate in recent years contributes to this erosion of competitiveness, in particular relative to Germany, the UK and the US. The challenge of restoring price-competitiveness through wage moderation and cost containment is made more difficult by France's membership of the monetary union, which removes the adjustment mechanism that the ability to devalue its own currency would provide.
Apart from elevated taxes and social contributions, the French labour market is characterised by a high degree of segmentation as a result of significant employment protection legislation for permanent contracts. While notice periods and severance payments are not significantly higher than they are in other European countries, some parts of this legislation make dismissals particularly difficult. This judicial uncertainty raises the implicit cost of labour and creates disincentives to hire. In addition, the definition of economic dismissal in France rules out its use to improve a firm's competitiveness and profitability.
Moreover, the regulation of the services market remains more restrictive in France than it is in many other countries, as reflected in the OECD Indicators of Product Market Regulation. The subdued competition in the services sector also has a negative effect on the purchasing power of households and the input costs of enterprises. France additionally faces significant non-price competitiveness issues that stem from low R&D intensity compared to other EU countries.
Moody's recognises that the government recently announced measures intended to address some of these structural challenges. However, those measures alone are unlikely to be sufficiently far-reaching to restore competitiveness, and Moody's notes that the track record of successive French governments in effecting such measures over the past two decades has been poor.
The second driver of today's rating action is the elevated uncertainty with respect to France's fiscal outlook. Moody's acknowledges that the government's budget forecasts target a reduction in the headline deficit to 0.3% of GDP by 2017 and a balancing of the structural deficit by 2016. However, the rating agency considers the GDP growth assumptions of 0.8% in 2013 and 2.0% from 2014 onwards to be overly optimistic. On top of rising unemployment, France's consumption levels are being weighed down by tax increases, subdued disposable income growth and a correction in the housing market. Net exports are unlikely to drive economic activity in light of reduced external demand, in particular from euro area trading partners such as Italy and Spain.
As a result, Moody's sees a continued risk of fiscal slippage and of additional consolidation measures. Again, based on the track record of successive governments in implementing fiscal consolidation measures, Moody's will remain cautious when assessing whether the consolidation effort is sufficiently deep and sustained.
The third rating driver of Moody's downgrade of France's sovereign rating is the diminishing predictability of the country's resilience to future euro area shocks in view of the rising risks to economic growth, fiscal performance and cost of funding. In this context, France is disproportionately exposed to peripheral European countries such as Italy through its trade linkages and its banking system.
Moody's notes that French banks have sizable exposures to some weaker euro area countries. As a result, despite their good loss-absorption capacity, French banks remain vulnerable to a further deepening of the crisis due to these exposures and their significant -- albeit reduced -- reliance on wholesale market funding. This vulnerability adds to the government's contingent liabilities arising from the French banking system.
Moreover, France's credit exposure to the euro area debt crisis has been growing due to the increased amount of euro area resources that may be made available to support troubled sovereigns and banks through the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the facilities put in place by the European Central Bank (ECB). At the same time, in case of need, France -- like other large and highly rated euro area member states -- may not benefit from these support mechanisms to the same extent, given that these resources might have already been exhausted by then.
In light of the liquidity risks and banking sector risks in non-core countries, Moody's perceives an elevated risk that at least part of the contingent liabilities that relate to the support of non-core euro area countries may actually crystallise for France. The risk that greater collective support will be required for weaker euro area sovereigns has been rising, most for notably Spain, whose economy and government bond market are around twice the combined size of those of Greece, Portugal and Ireland. Highly rated member states like France are likely to bear a disproportionately large share of this burden given their greater ability to absorb the associated costs.
More generally, further shocks to sovereign and bank credit markets would further undermine financial and economic stability in France as well as in other euro area countries. The impact of such shocks would be expected to be felt disproportionately by more highly indebted governments such as France, and further accentuate the fiscal and structural economic pressures noted above. While the French government's debt service costs have been largely contained to date, Moody's would not expect this to remain the case in the event of a further shock. A rise in debt service costs would further increase the pressure on the finances of the French government, which, unlike other non-euro area sovereigns that carry similarly high ratings, does not have access to a national central bank that could assist with the financing of its debt in the event of a market disruption.
Today's rating action on France's government bond rating was limited to one notch given (i) the country's large and diversified economy, which underpins France's economic resiliency, and (ii) the government's commitment to structural reforms and fiscal consolidation. The limited magnitude of today's rating action also reflects an acknowledgment by Moody's of the French government's ongoing work on a reform programme to improve the country's competitiveness and long-term growth perspectives, with key measures expected to be outlined in the National Pact for Growth, Competitiveness and Employment. Moreover, on the fiscal side, the European Treaty on the Stability, Coordination and Governance of the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG), known as the "fiscal compact", will be implemented through the Organic Law on Public Finance Planning and Governance.
RATIONALE FOR CONTINUED NEGATIVE OUTLOOK
Moody's decision to maintain a negative outlook on France's government bond rating reflects the weak macroeconomic environment, and the rating agency's view that the risks to the implementation of the government's planned reforms remain substantial. Moreover, Moody's currently also holds negative outlooks on those Aaa-rated euro area sovereigns whose balance sheets are expected to bear the main financial burden of support via the operations of the EFSF, the ESM and the ECB. Apart from France, these countries comprise Germany (Aaa negative), the Netherlands (Aaa negative) and Austria (Aaa negative).
WHAT COULD MOVE THE RATING UP/DOWN
Moody's would downgrade France's government debt rating further in the event of additional material deterioration in the country's economic prospects or difficulties in implementing reform. Substantial economic and financial shocks stemming from the euro area debt crisis would also exert further downward pressure on France's rating.
Given the current negative outlook on France's sovereign rating, an upgrade is unlikely over the medium term. However, Moody's would consider changing the outlook on France's sovereign rating to stable in the event of a successful implementation of economic reforms and fiscal measures that effectively strengthen the growth prospects of the French economy and the government's balance sheet. Upward pressure on France's rating could also result from a significant improvement in the government's public finances, accompanied by a reversal in the upward trajectory in public debt.
COUNTRY CEILINGS
France's foreign- and local-currency bond and deposit ceilings remain unchanged at Aaa. The short-term foreign-currency bond and deposit ceilings remain Prime-1.
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Europe is fucked.. i can't wait for the eu to die..
EVERYTHING IT TAKES,BELIEEEEEEVE ME
OMG look at that chart! It's the dreaded TRON RECOGNIZER pattern!
HAa1 HAa1 HAa1!!!
Moody's and everyone else but Egan Jones gets paid from their issuer. Its like I'm paying you to make me look good. Moody's, S&P, and Fitch are on the sell side. EJ is on the buy (our) side. So I'm guessing that the EU is much worse that what these worthless rating agencies (sans EJ) will publish. I'll be celebrating like this when the EU finally falls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chCe67quwV0
As the talking heads harped incessantly about PIIGS, I was speaking of PIIGS+France+U.K. last year (which another ZH member acronym-ized as PIIGSFUK).
France's & the UK's economies are severely contracting in real terms currently. Just like in the U.S., the proxy information disseminators of the government are pushing the pedal to the metal to pump out headlines and newscasts to distract the sheeple from the economic implosion taking place, and to do everything possible to project an illusion of relative economic normalcy.
Most intelligent life forms now recognize the reality that the EU will be radically re-shaped, and will not even remotely resemble what it did prior to 2008.
Some of these same intelligent life forms also now realize that one of the reasons for this is that the fractional reserve central banks, with two of these most prominent cartel members having their headquarters in London & New York, respectively, not only are not attempting rational monetary policy, but for whatever reason (anyone is free to add their conjecture and postulates as to the why), are engaged in monetary policy that has the effect of breaking markets, sowing uncertainty & debasing living standards.
If people want to know what the U.S. will look like in 20 to 30 years, just look to the U.K. We are literally 20-30 years behind the U.K.'s footsteps in terms of living standards, real economic productivity & standards of living.
This makes perfect sense as the BOE & Federal Reserve are twins born of the same mother, serving the same masters.
Hmm, if the UK is, call it 20 years "ahead" of us, and IF gold matches its price rise since then, that would imply gold at $6000 or more. Yeah, I know, just one inaccurate and bad metric, but just sayin'...
Yup. I'm just waiting on a GLD margin call rise so I can go ape shit on a spending spree.
"One less in the AAA Club..."
How many left (not that they matter)? Wait till the last one down, where will gold be?
In my response above, I mistakenly stated "living standards" twice, when I meant to include a "massive wealth divide" (aka continued annihilation of the middle class that made the U.S. the most powerful nation at one time, probably near 1968; the larger a true middle class of a nation, coupled with the a system that allows for the bright and/or motivated to rise the economic ladder, the more powerful it is).
The U.K. has a true FIRE economy now, with a manufacturing sector approximately 1/8th the size it was, in real terms (relative to overall GDP), during the period that Britain was the preeminent world power. Today, London, with its various financial zombies & overpaid employees, subsidized off the teat of the British taxpayer, might as well be a different nation than the rest of the U.K., in terms of cost of living, standard of living, and the mind blowing government subsidization it receives.
New York City is the U.S.'s London, for the same reasons.
It beyond ironic that New York City is the bastion of liberalism in the U.S., yet New York City probably has the largest wealth divide, and smallest relative middle class, of any city in the country.
"...but for whatever reason (anyone is free to add their conjecture and postulates as to the why), are engaged in monetary policy that has the effect of breaking markets, sowing uncertainty & debasing living standards."
There was a time, I believed they were just incompetent. Now there can be no doubt that they (the NY investment banks & government) wish to enslave their respective populations.
Not the chains & bondage type enslavement...but the "needy kind" of enslavement. What does it say about a government that takes away the ability to move upwards for entire segments of a society while promising them treats if they just continue to support it's actions?
Furthermore, what does it say about those who readily succumb to it?
Just gimme my free shit, fuck my neighbor, I don't like him anyways, he's got a better job, foxier wife, bigger boat...yes, this is how its done. Envy, greed...followed by fraud, graft & corruption...all aboard!!!
American news agencies should be declared criminal organizations using psychological operations on the people.
They should be required to display a warning label; Lies of omission and brainwashing tactics are being used on our viewers 24/7. Buyer beware.
Really think it'll take 20-30 years? Things are accelerating. Give it 10, max. Notwithstanding a financial/social collapes, which is certainly well within the realm of possibility.
Missing out on calling it IFUKPIGS there, surely...
+1
Or iFuckpiigs, given the new iEconomy-- which recently had a New York Times article discussing it, wherein they decried the injustice of those who write mobile apps for Apple and Android not being able to sufficiently supplement their incomes in these tough times:
As Boom Lures App Creators, Tough Part Is Making a LivingAs Boom Lures App Creators, Tough Part Is Making a Living
You talk utter bollox.
From someone who has been visiting the US 2-3 times a month for the last several years and who resides in the UK. Coming to US is like visiting an analogue country compared with Europe. You haven't got a single clue what you are talking about.
Ha, you have a US Govt exercising the lack of financial discipline onw would normally associate with Argentina and state that you have 20-30 years lead on the UK?
Listen, the drugs don't work. Friday night turns into FRi Sat, followed by the whole weekend then thursday's as well...
Sacre Bleu!!!
And the market yawns with a "mon do me!". Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.
Tu as volé mon tonnerre, Nmewn...
Aa1 ? C'est la merde !
"Tu as volé mon tonnerre"
Sorry bout that...yeah, everyones looking at everyone else saying to themselves "You're gonna Welsh on me aren't you?"...lol...helluva way to run a capital market.
Ahhh well, tax the rich, feed the poor, till there are no rich no more...Ten Years After...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzrUqAtUcpU
Great tune. Here's another: Locomotive Breath
"No way to slow down..."
@ nmewn, et de la merde!!!
Big piles of it...everywhere.
The distance between Aa1 and ccc is shorter than any country is willing to admit.
Click, Click, BOOM
Next up: BBBelgium, GermAA+ny, SPA-in, ItA+ly...see how much fun this is.
Only problem is GrEEce is more like a shoe size than a sovereign rating.
I would prefer DD's myself... just sayin'
There is no problem rating GreeCCCes debt.
Its more like tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick........still waiting for the BOOM.
RISE ABOVE
It's all Bullshit! S&P 1386.89 today...up from 666 four years ago. Rally on!
n'est rien sacré
i can,t wait for the US to die ... how do you like that?
they need to raise taxes...oh wait
Zut alors!
Arrest zem!
Maybe sacre bleu might be more appropriate. C' nest pas tres bien du tout, pour toute le Monde.
F. Zappa, effet vidéo sur batterie
Fitch gonna whack USA next?
Nope.
Corporations are people, and H.R. 4310: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 is a done deal, so they're rightfully fretful of waves of drone attacks.
In other news Egan Jones laughs out loud.
as does Sarkozy. Hollande is a douche.
And a communist. No?
While scratching all 10 of his balls.
Yep. The bailers become the bailees
Wait - why did they tell me to follow the herd and buy the Euro today?
To get the real rating, just subtract 15 notches from Moody's.
Just subtract Moody's and let the market decide the rating.
Why would any one trust any rating agency that desribes itself as moody, poor or far-fitched?
30 pips--not a big deal, as we learned from the US downgrade. Everybody expected it. Priced in. Now we can relax. And rally.
yep....will evaporate when everyone realizes it was already front-ran today
You do realize 2011 was a down year for the market?
that explains todays market action then.
i hate how undramatic ratings agencies are.. and fyi there should not be a rating system as it is at current...
It doesn't say anything really.. it should be based on Will i recieve the purchasing power of this money back + interest.. yes or no..
if answer is no then the bonds are junk
if answer is yes then good...
Have no fear, boosting the common agricultural policy for French farmers will fix everything right back to AAA in a jiffy. It is great, Spanish, Italian, English, and German tax payers pay 600 Euros a year to subsidize French farmers. What could possibly go wrong?
Lol - muppets get skewered as always.
France @ Moody's ...Your mother is a hampster and your father smelt of elderberries. Go away before I fart in your general direction.
I've already run far, far away.
They still have two a's. That's go, no
Standard & Poors have summoned the French finance minister to a meeting next week which is to be held in a railway carriage in a clearing in a forest outside Compiegne.
Wasn't that last Sunday? :)
T'is but a fleshwound.
The Greek and Spanish bailouts will be adjusted accordingly.
Downgrade is bullish! War is peace! EBT cards are food! Bailouts are growth! Paper is money!
They need some Fed Firecrackers!
Whhhhhhhhhat?
Bailing out Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece, Belgium, all of the banks, etc. can negatively effect your finances?
Sucre Bleu! (blue sugar?)
oooooo yeahhhh this is a BIG FUCKING DEAL!! the Euro TUMBLES 0.0001%. I am SHOCKED.
HEY, NOTHING HAS CHANGED. EURO WILL RALLY MANANA.
All Hail King Doelarr!
Well SuM00dy had to do some'at, and queek! After all, everyM00dy love$ SuM00dy.
So basically Moody's get their research from The Economist.
HOLD ON! This can't be! Spain's PM Rajoy says the worst of the euro crisis is now over!
When the US was downgraded the 10yr yield was 3 point something or other and now its 1.60%.
The French should be delighted as the downgrade is likely to help their credit-worthiness, not hamper it.
It's the new normal!
Downgrades are the new upgrades
What took so long?
Let the competitive devaluation spiral begin!
Moody's engaged in terra?
To ease the bond rating process, I propose we add a miniscule, a super small and a so-tiny-that-it's-almost-not-even-there "a" letters to the English alphabet.
Deep fried frog anyone? ;-) Frances banks are already shit, so this is just a small formality.
YC; It's over hotdogs. Replaced by chiens chauds.
The 1980 movie , is supposed to be a comedy as well.
Je regarder d' CAD traverser pour la EUR poutine confirmer.
That's an interesting trade. What time frame are you looking at?
That's like 2300-pips! No way!
The chart presented here is a load of bollex in that it is clearly edited to give only a partial picture of the most recent days trading : the telling part is edited out on the left hand side.
16th novermber the EUR/USD traded at a dip of 1.27. Rose to a peak 19th of 1.2810+ ( 17/18th was weekend) before the present dip shown in chart accompanying this artcile. The dip shown here is minor by comparisonto the rise since last friday, yet the reader isn't given the full picture to make such comparison. Go look at a chart showing full last week's trading moves.
vous etes la chat...
non non, sérieusement, je suis joker.
Next up, downgrading of the USAaa to USAa.
USB
Considering the socialst wacko they have running France, they should be thankful it wasn't a two notch downgrade.
Dammit, I just found a thousand francs in an old envelope in my desk, so even if the Banque de France reopens the window, whatever they give me in exchange will still be worthless.
UK should be junk.
The whole charade has been to prop up the Great British Pound Sterling because it was the one that really imploded after Lehman. Lloyd's, RBS, etc...
What happened to the half-trillion dollars, Mr. Chairman?
Now, their mouthpieces are saying publicly that this isn't working so it makes me wonder what the next move is going to be...
Did they fix it enough where they're ready to take the hit? Does the GBPUSD cross return to 1.53? Or lower? That would take a tsunami of "risk-off" but with France being downgraded, who knows what happens in equity markets now.
:D
Nothing's gonna happen.
The market cannot fall, it can only crater.
Timing of it is impossible, it could be tomorrow, it could next month it could be next year, but crater it will.
Bullish! The Fed traders with unlimited digital $$$, big computer screens and tiny dicks are ready to buy everything.
im sorry first i must say i drank to much tonight, second i thought it wise to goggle deficits and budgets with projections. and All i can say is everyone on here is an ass. it is obvious we have become delusional so why are we sitting here typing to each other. dont you think its time to walk out with the guns and start shooting? I just saw the movie Lincohn and that is a wonerful example of why we should just start shooting.
go for it, dude.
Here are the DOW/ES CFD's currently.
US 30 12757.00 12795.96 12794.00 12753.00 -38.96 -0.30% 23:25:58 SPX 500 1383.45 1386.89 1388.15 1382.75 -3.44 -0.25% 23:28:07French bonds at an ATH good opportunity to get short
America, the UK, Germany (if they agree to one more bailout of anyone) need to be downgraded by every rating agencies pronto.
took them long enough.
I am not worried. In the past four months I have practiced and perfected the art of eating and recycling my own feces. I will not starve and I have no need to prep for armaggedon
Our mining dome is almost complete. We are almost 100 feet below the surface of earth. I am the lords prophet. Follow me.
I thought the 75% tax increased fixed everything .......... no? Maybe 99% tax will.
I am quite sure people in my city don't rake their leaves because they think the government will do it for them.
The city is currently flooding because no water is draining from the streets.
This is America: drowning in complacency.
Just buy everything before the fed does.Ring up Hollande and just say soon the whole country will be worthless so how much for the shitty little gaff and throw in Corsica too.
"France does not have access to a national central bank for the financing of its debt in the event of a market disruption."
By that wording it could be implied that moody wants the ECB either move to France or alternatively to lose nation status, the new nation being the EZ.
QE-Infinity failing strategy is not going to be able to compete with a utter failure in France. It's battle of the losers folks.
And what does this mean? Likely the US Dollar will climb.
http://bullandbearmash.com/chart/us-dollar-falls-hard-as-bets-are-made-o...
The "begging bowl"--this just keeps getting better:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/9687187/Not-a-single-penny-more-for-the-EUs-begging-bowl.html
Are You Fucking Kidding Me? Who Are These Assholes? http://chartistfriendfrompittsburgh.blogspot.com/2012/11/are-you-fucking...
I just peed my pants
'MericAA!!!
I am the lords prophet. So said biff the angel. Join me and my sunday sermons. Peace be with you. Rocketman69@yahoo.com
Euro tumbling? It's gained 40 pips in the last 30 minutes.
I am like Tretyiak!
Who gives a fuck.
All governments are broke. All corporations are thieves.
Time to join the French resistance. And lower that damn retirement age.
Meanwhile the President's out securing the Golden Triangle.
I want to see Nigel Farage get that Van Rompey in a head lock. When's LeGarde going to have the adams apple looked at? Whose paying the damn rating agency?
by friday fitch downgrades the mighty english...
Nonsense, all good in blighty land.