The big 3 credit ratings firms seem to have missed nearly every major crisis, collapse, bankruptcy and default of the past few decades. The fear is that they will – belatedly, and without providing any meaningful insight (beyond CYA) further pummel Greek government bonds by lowering their ratings for Greece. The fear that Standard & Poor's and/or Moody's will soon lower the boom ( Fitch already has ) has Gold rallying, and the US dollar up 0.135 (0.17%). MarketBeat reports that spreads on Greek borrowing has widened vs Germany to 3.55%, and the cost of insuring a Greek government bond against default for five years, has hit about $397,000 annually (up from $382,000 yesterday). Equities down 2% at one point, have climbed back to down 1% or less. It just goes to show you that Ratings Agencies are no different than analysts: You don't need them in a Bull market, and you don't want them in a Bear market. .. ~~~ And the markets? They are none too happy about all this: