By Bob Stokes
4/14/2010 12:15:00 PM
What word comes to mind when you see speculators buying company shares which are trading for pocket change -- while the company also faces bankruptcy? Gambling. Evidence of that very thing may be seen today. AMBAC Financial once traded for over $96. The credit crisis knocked the bond insurer down to 35 cents at its low -- a staggering 99.6% loss. However, something interesting just happened...
Filed Under: bull market, Ambac
Category: Stocks
By Nico Isaac
7/31/2009 4:00:00 PM
In theory, credit-rating agencies are to companies what Kelley Blue Book is to cars. In reality, however, this is not the case with credit-rating agencies. So often, a rating service will assign unit "x" a good-to-excellent grade -- only to find it cast into the "JUNK"-yard soon after. Case in point: Ambac...
Filed Under: Ambac
Category: U.S. Economy
By Nico Isaac
7/11/2008 5:45:00 PM
On Friday, July 11, the pandemonium surrounding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s fall from financial grace prompted some panic-stricken citizens to ask the most dreaded of all questions: If the U.S. government is forced to bailout the flailing mortgage giants, will the leader of the free world lose its coveted AAA status?
Filed Under: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ambac, credit rating
Category: U.S. Economy
Rating Services: Safety In Letters?
Time and again, the top-notch Rating Services of Wall Street do not see the real value of a corporation until it's too late.
By Nico Isaac
3/3/2008 5:15:00 PM
According to Wall Street, well-established rating services are to corporations what Roger Ebert is to cinema. Two thumbs up or AAA -- it's all the same. Or is it? Time and again, the hired prognosticators do not "see" the real value of a company until its completely obvious to everyone else. By then, it's too late...
Filed Under: conquer the crash, Ambac
Category: U.S. Economy