Research Zeitgeist: Top Posts and Hot Topics
Visitors to Research Recap this week enjoyed our post on school connections improving the accuracy of analysts’ stock recommendations. Too bad for those hoping for an insider edge: that pesky Regulation FD seems to have eradicated any advantage.
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Country Risk Rankings drew interest. It’s understandable that stolid states such as Norway, Finland and Austria would be considered the safest bets, but who’d have thought that Botswana and Chile would be considered less risky than the US and most of Western Europe?
Our roundup of the Northrop/EADS Air Force Tanker deal was popular. As expected, this issue will not be resolved any time soon, now that losing bidder Boeing has filed a protest and the deal has become a topic of debate in the Presidential race. The GAO has 100 days to respond to the protest, but it is likely to be many months or more before the issue gets resolved.
Another well-read roundup examined MBIA’s request for Fitch to withdraw its rating on the bond insurer. True to our prediction that this is a battle MBIA can’t win, Fitch trumped MBIA by offering to provide ratings free of charge.
And if the ratings agency’s feelings are hurt, CreditSights’ thumbs-up of Fitch’s new structured finance ratings methodology should make them feel better.
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