Spain Keeps its Investment Grade Credit Rating From Moody's

Spain kept its investment grade credit rating from Moody's Investors Service, which cited a reduction in the risk of losing market access because of the European Central Bank's willingness to buy the nation's debt.

Moody's assigned a negative outlook on the Baa3 sovereign debt, one step above junk, as it concluded the review for a possible further downgrade of Spain's rating that it had initiated in June, the New York-based company said in a statement yesterday.

Spain avoided joining euro-region peers Cyprus, Portugal, Ireland and Greece as being rated below investment grade. Standard & Poor's has a negative outlook on its BBB- rating, also one step above junk, and Fitch Ratings has Spain at BBB, two levels higher than junk.

The willingness of the ECB to purchase Spain's government bonds in the secondary market “is an important step” for Spain to maintain access to credit markets, Kathrin Muehlbronner, a Moody's analyst in London, said in a telephone interview.

via Bloomberg