Downgrades rising

The ratings agencies are starting to notice how high the water has risen around the monolines. Today XL Capital reported a billion dollar loss for the 4th quarter and Moody's cut them from AAA to A-. In one step.

Can MBIA and Ambac be far off? Given mounting regulatory pressure the agencies surely cannot delay long. Admittedly the monolines are scrambling to raise new capital but the WSJ thinks that the rescue plans won't prevent downgrades. One hopes for the sake of the credibility of the whole system, that they are right.