Page Perry

Morgan Stanley’s credit default swaps and bond yields are climbing, signaling that investors are concerned about the firm’s creditworthiness. The price of a credit default swap on Morgan Stanley represents the price demanded to insure its debt against default. The higher the price, the greater the risk the bank will default, in the eyes of its insurers. According to Moody’s Analytics, Morgan Stanley’s credit default swap price level implies a credit rating of Ba2, which is non-investment grade, speculative ? aka junk. That is down from Ba1 (also junk level) a month ago and vastly below the high-grade rating of A2 assigned by Moody’s Investors Service (a different Moody’s company).