NEW YORK (Reuters) – A possible levee breach in northern New Jersey on Tuesday, flooded three towns with 4 to 5 feet of water in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, prompting the evacuation of hundreds from their homes.

The towns of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt were underwater after the swollen Hackensack River broke its banks, affecting around 2,000 residents, said Jeanne Baratta, chief of the Bergen County Executive.

NEW YORK, Oct 29 (Reuters) – The price to insure Argentina’s
sovereign credits soared to a near four-year high on Monday in
thin market conditions following a crucial ruling by a U.S.
court last week that said all bondholders must be treated
equally.

The low trading volumes were caused by the shuttering of
Wall Street as Hurricane Sandy, a massive storm battering the
U.S. East Coast with fierce winds and driving rain, prompted
officials in New York to close the major transportation systems.

NEW YORK, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Fitch Ratings put Kuwait on
warning that a further escalation of political protests there
could put its AA sovereign credit rating under pressure for a
downgrade despite the nation’s strong balance sheet.

On Monday, the credit rating firm said recent popular
protests over a change in the election law decreed by the ruling
emir “suggests a radicalisation of the political scene”.

NEW YORK, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Fitch Ratings on Wednesday
revised the outlook on its long-term foreign currency sovereign
credit rating for Ecuador to positive from stable citing
improving economic growth and manageable financing needs.

Ecuador, an OPEC member whose oil output has hovered around
500,000 barrels per day for the past few years, is being
supported by the relatively high price of crude oil, Fitch said
in a statement.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – It has to be one of the toughest jobs around – trying to sell U.S. businesses on the investment potential of one of the poorest nations on Earth, a country battered by Islamist militants who bomb, assassinate and kidnap.

Yet it is a job U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein is taking on by leading a delegation of 10 Yemeni businessmen on a 10-day, five-city tour of the United States.

NEW YORK/MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s government dodged a bullet on Tuesday when Moody’s Investors Service affirmed its investment grade rating, assuaging widespread fears that the euro zone country would be cut to a junk rating.

Moody’s kept a Baa3 rating but assigned a negative outlook, leaving both the rating and the outlook in line with that of rival agency Standard & Poor’s, which rates Spain at BBB-minus. Fitch Ratings’ grade for Spain remains one notch higher at BBB but also with a negative outlook.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday cut Spain’s sovereign credit rating to BBB-minus, just above junk territory, citing a deepening economic recession that is limiting the government’s policy options to arrest the slide.

The S&P downgrade comes with a negative outlook reflecting the credit ratings agency’s view that there are significant risks to economic growth and budgetary performance, plus a lack of clear direction in euro zone policies.

NEW YORK, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday
cut Spain’s sovereign credit rating to BBB-minus, just above
junk territory, citing a deepening economic recession that is
limiting the government’s policy options to arrest the slide.

The S&P downgrade comes with a negative outlook reflecting
the credit ratings agency’s view that there are significant
risks to economic growth and budgetary performance, plus a lack
of a clear direction in euro zone policies.