Moodys and other rating companies actually helped me invest. When they were down on a specific stock, I would buy it up. Who would want to sell their Bank of America stock at $4 a share? With WAMU's case, though, it bit me hard. WAMU wasn't downgraded until the last few weeks, correct? If I remember correctly, when JPM made the initial $8/share offer, WAMU was still in decent terms with the rating agencies. Only after the offer was rejected, did the ratings (and PPS) drop exponentially.
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