links for 2010-04-24

"Credit-rating agencies allowed Wall Street to impact their analysis, their independence and their reputation for reliability," Senator Carl Levin, who leads the investigative panel, said on Thursday. "They did it for the big fees that they got." E-mails released by the committee show Moody's and S&P deferring to investment banks that were paying them to assign ratings to securities composed of pooled mortgages.