Moody's Gets Hostile on Banks: Downgrades BofA (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citi (C)

Moody's Investors Service laid waste to the Banking sector Wednesday afternoon, downgrading the credit ratings of BofA (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and Citi (NYSE: C).

The damage was seen in the individual stocks: BofA shares fell as much as 5 percent just after headlines hit, Wells Fargo shares fell 3 percent and Citi shares declined about 4 percent.

It seems the market may not have been caught totally off guard by the move however; although still down from levels prior to the news, the financial sector is now bouncing modestly. After trading down as much as 2.3 percent, the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE: XLF) is currently down 1.3 percent.

Click the links to see full details from each downgrade:

• BofA - From A2 to Baa1, outlook Negative. Cited "a decrease in the probability that the US government would support the bank, if needed."
  
  
• Wells Fargo - From A1 to A2. Cited "a decrease in the probability that the US government would support the bank, if needed."
  
  
• Citigroup - Affirmed A3 long-term rating but downgraded short-term rating from Prime-1 to Prime-2. Said the downgrade was based on two offsetting factors "a decrease in the probability that the US government would support the bank, if needed, and an improvement in the bank's stand-alone credit profile reflected in an increase in Citibank N.A.'s unsupported baseline credit assessment..."

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