He lowered his rating on the stock to hold, from buy.

"As stock prices move up, I like to lower my ratings," he said.

But Moody's has had the county on a "watch" list for a month, meaning it could soon lower its rating.

The stock had lost a third of its value a month ago when two analysts lowered their ratings on the company.

The agencies have warned that such an action could prompt them to lower the city's rating.

It also lowered its rating of the insurance companies' ability to pay to B, a weak level.

Let's cut to the chase: in the debate between two men trying desperately to lower their high negative ratings, who won?

But the declines in stock price by themselves were not sufficient to cause the firm to lower its rating on Enron, he said.

In October 2000, he lowered his rating on the stock to "neutral" again.

Leading agencies lowered their ratings on city debt securities last year.