To get ready for Sundays SUZE School podcast Here are the three rating services for bonds and their ratings Our current ratings are Standard & Poors AA+ Moody’s Aaa Fitch AA+ Here’s what that means Standard & Poor's (S&P): AAA: Highest credit quality, lowest risk of default AA: High credit quality, very low risk of default A: Upper-medium credit quality, low risk of default BBB: Medium credit quality, moderate risk of default BB: Speculative, high risk of default CCC: Substantial credit risk, vulnerable to default D: In default or bankruptcy Moody's: Aaa: Highest quality, lowest risk Aa: High quality, very low risk A: Upper-medium quality, low risk Baa: Medium-grade, moderate risk Ba: Speculative, high risk B: Highly speculative, very high risk Caa: Substantial credit risk Ca: Extremely speculative, often in default C: Lowest rated, typically in default Fitch Ratings: AAA: Exceptionally strong creditworthiness AA: Very high credit quality A: High credit quality BBB: Good credit quality BB: Speculative, prone to default CCC: Substantial credit risk D: In default Bond ratings have pluses and minuses to provide more precision in assessing the creditworthiness of a bond issuer. These symbols indicate slight variations in credit quality within a particular rating category. For example, a bond rated as AA+ may have a slightly higher credit quality than a bond rated as AA, while AA- may indicate a slightly lower credit quality. These distinctions can be important to you , as they help in evaluating risk and making more informed investment decisions. The pluses and minuses offer a way to differentiate between bonds with similar ratings and provide a finer assessment of an issuer's credit risk.

Posted by Suze at 2023-08-04 14:30:45 UTC