Reuters writes "Moody's drops one money fund rating method change", which says, "Short-term rates analysts on Monday praised a decision by Moody's Investor Services to drop a proposed change to its money fund rating methods after fund managers said it would damage the industry. Although Moody's, one of the top three credit rating agencies, had announced last Tuesday that it would drop a proposal to factor a money fund's sponsorship into consideration of its overall creditworthiness, the news was still filtering through markets on Monday." The article quotes Alex Roever of JPMorgan Securities, who wrote in his weekly update, "These changes are a positive for the money fund industry. Without them, some funds, particularly those who hold smaller assets under management and traditionally have received less attention from sponsors' management, would have been at risk of losing their top-tier ratings." (See also Crane Data's Jan. 19 News "Moodys Backs Down From MMF Ratings Change Proposals, Keeps AAA", which said, "Moody's Investors Service published a press release entitled, 'Update on Money Market Fund Ratings Methodology' yesterday, which indicates that the ratings agency is backing away from its controversial proposals to switch from its AAA money fund rating scale and to heavily weight sponsor support in ratings.")
