Sunday, September 7, 2008

U.S. Credit Rating unaffected by Fannie Mae Freddie Mac Bailout. And: Preferred Junk (FNM; FRE)

In the post below I said:
...The big losers are the American taxpayers who may be on the hook for a Trillion dollars and who may see their government lose its AAA credit rating, with the increased borrowing costs that implies....
Now we have this from Reuters (boy that was fast):

S&P says US's AAA-rating unaffected after GSE move
Standard & Poor's said on Sunday the U.S. top triple-A rating and stable outlook are not affected by the government's decision to take over mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote).

The rating agency said in a statement: "In our view, the U.S. government's credit quality continues to be upheld by its high-income, highly diversified, and exceptionally flexible economy, relative to those of other 'AAA' rated sovereigns, together with the U.S. public sector's fiscal flexibility and the unique advantages coming from the dollar's preeminent place among currencies."
(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

On the other hand Reuters is also reporting:

S&P slashes Fannie, Freddie preferred stock to junk...