In conjunction with Fitch's downgrade of Assured Guaranty Corp.'s insurer financial strength (IFS) rating to 'AA' from 'AAA' on May 4, 2009, Fitch downgrades to 'AA' from 'AAA' the long-term ratings of Assured Guaranty-insured municipal bonds with no Fitch unenhanced ratings, as well as those Assured Guaranty-insured municipal bonds with unenhanced ratings of below 'AA'. These ratings are placed on Rating Watch Evolving, corresponding to the Rating Watch status of Assured Guaranty's IFS rating.
For Assured Guaranty-insured municipal bonds with unenhanced long-term ratings of 'AA+' or 'AA', the ratings are downgraded from 'AAA' to the level of their unenhanced ratings. Assured Guaranty-insured municipal bonds with unenhanced long-term ratings of 'AAA' are not affected by today's actions unless the 'AAA' unenhanced ratings had been assigned a Negative Rating Outlook or had been on Rating Watch Negative.
In addition to the above rating actions, two ratings are changed to 'AA' from 'BBB' and nine are maintained at 'AA' but with the Rating Watch changed to Evolving from Negative due to data discrepancies on insured bonds wrapped by Assured Guaranty secondary insurance policies that have been corrected and are now reflected on Fitch's web site.
See Fitch research, 'Fitch Downgrades to 'AA' Assured Guaranty Insured U.S. Municipal Bonds', available at www.fitchratings.com for a listing of the above ratings changes, by CUSIP number.
Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.
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Fitch Ratings, New York
David Litvack, +1-212-908-0593
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Cindy Stoller, +1-212-908-0526
cindy.stoller@fitchratings.com