Moody’s Investors Service has lowered the ratings on nine tranches of Portuguese asset-backed securities and 38 tranches of residential mortgage-backed securities following successive downgrades of Portugal’s government ratings from A1 to Baa1 in the past three weeks. Moody’s says the downgrades reflect several factors, including an uncertain political outlook following resignation of its government, short- and medium-term funding challenges and the medium-term implications of revisions to budget-deficit estimates.
