, Columnist
Who's Afraid of a Big Bad Bond Bump? (Not China)
In May, Moody's saw reasons to worry about Chinese government debt. Investors had other ideas.
Bad news can be good.
Photographer: Qilai ShenThis article is for subscribers only.
China was supposed to be the loser after Moody's Investors Service lowered its rating on Chinese government debt for the first time since 1989. The May 24 downgrade to A1 from Aa3 was widely reported as an ominous turn for the world's second-largest economy, whose credit was said to be deteriorating amid borrowing problems and slower growth.
Moody's decision will "deal a blow to confidence in regional markets," Jingyi Pan, a market strategist at IG Asia Pte Ltd, told the Associated Press, predicting that "the attention on China's worsening outlook could create jitters."