S&P offers crumbs of comfort

LONDON - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has joined rival Fitch in delivering a negative verdict on the Baltic states' sovereign credit ratings, albeit with a faint tinge of hopefulness, particularly with regard to Lithuania's future prospects. On July 23rd, S&P affirmed its sovereign credit ratings as" Lithuania (A-/Negative/A-2), Estonia (A/Negative/A-1), and Latvia (BBB+/Negative/A-2). Standard & Poor's also published an accompanying article, titled "The Baltic Hangover: No More Double Vision," giving the reasons for its downbeat assessment but offering a few crumbs of comfort to investors. "The outlook on all three Baltic sovereigns remains negative due to the continued risk of a hard landing for the Baltic economies," S&P credit analyst Eileen Zhang said. "In our view, a hard landing constitutes a sharp economic... [read full story]