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U.S. stocks rally as bond insurers' ratings are affirmed - International Herald Tribune

U.S. stocks rallied Monday after Standard & Poor's affirmed its ratings for Ambac Financial Group and MBIA, raising hopes that troubled bond insurers will emerge from the credit market crisis on solid footing. The Dow Jones industrials rose more than 100 points.

"This is essentially evidence that S&P has signed off any tentative deal," said Charlie Smith, chief investment officer at Fort Pitt Capital Group.

Chris Johnson, president of Johnson Research Group, said the market continued to look for any sign that financial stocks would make it through the credit crisis. Experts believe keeping bond insurers whole will spare greater losses for major global banks and brokerages.

"Even the smallest bit of positive news and the market takes off," he said. "Investors get excited if they sense a bottom in the financials because they've been the Achilles' heel of this market."



"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
by Melanchthon on Tue Feb 26th, 2008 at 01:18:10 PM EST
An interestin diary about MBIA and Ambac bailout by Zandar1 on Booman Tribune.Also this information:

States are now asking the feds to bail THEM out of the muni bond mess.  

U.S. governors including New Jersey's Jon Corzine and New York's Eliot Spitzer may ask Congress to help reverse rising municipal debt costs stemming from the subprime mortgage market's collapse, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire said.

Gregoire, Corzine and Spitzer joined other governors Feb. 24 in forming a group that will ``produce something that gets us out of the problem, but most importantly produce something for Congress'' to deter a future borrowing squeeze, Gregoire, a Democrat, said during a National Governors Association meeting in Washington yesterday.

Interest on insured bonds, including debt with rates set at periodic auctions, rose to as high as 20 percent because investors shunned the securities or demanded higher yields on waning confidence in the companies guaranteeing repayment...

Seattle, Washington's biggest city, faces $80 million in additional costs on existing debt due to the recent turmoil in the credit markets, Gregoire said.



"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
by Melanchthon on Tue Feb 26th, 2008 at 02:35:33 PM EST
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