Here in Hong Kong, ratings firms that normally ply their trade in credit markets are causing a stir in stocks.

　　评级公司显身手的地方通常是信贷市场，而在香港，它们却在股市上引起骚动。

　　Earlier this month, Moody's Investors Service, a division of Moody's Corp., made news when it warned of governance and accounting 'red flags' at 61 rated Chinese companies. A day after the July 11 report was published, shares in some of the Hong Kong-listed firms Moody's highlighted plunged, with several posting double-digit percentage declines.

　　本月早些时候，穆迪公司(Moody's Corp.)旗下的穆迪投资者服务公司(Moody's Investors Service)对61家受评中资企业的公司治理和会计问题发出“红旗”警示，一时间成了不小的新闻事件。在警示报告于7月11日发布后的第二天，受穆迪投资者服务公司警告的部分在港上市中资公司的股价大跌，有几家公司甚至出现了两位数的跌幅。

　　A week later, rival ratings firm Fitch Ratings, a unit of Fimalac SA, published a report on governance risks at 35 Chinese companies that it rates. Both reports followed a decision several weeks ago by Standard & Poor's, a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos., to withdraw its ratings for debt issued by Hong Kong-listed Nine Dragons Paper, sending the shares of the company down 17% before trading was halted.

　　一周后，法国金融服务集团Fimalac SA旗下子公司惠誉国际评级(Fitch Ratings)对35家受评中资企业的治理风险发布报告。在这两个评级公司发布报告几周前，麦格劳-希尔公司(McGraw-Hill Cos.)旗下子公司标准普尔公司(Standard & Poor's)决定撤销其对香港上市企业玖龙纸业(控股)有限公司(Nine Dragons Paper)所发行公司债的评级，后者的股票因此暴跌17%，随后停牌。

　　S&P criticized the company's 'aggressive debt-funded growth appetite' and complained of insufficient access to management. Nine Dragons disputed S&P's comments and said it was ready and willing to meet with S&P analysts.

　　标普批评说，玖龙纸业对于通过债务融资来推动业务增长有着过分的偏好，并抱怨说无法与该公司管理层有足够的接触。玖龙纸业对标普的评论提出异议，说随时可以并愿意与标普的分析师见面。

　　The ratings companies are acting amid scrutiny over accounting practices and allegations of fraud at some overseas-listed Chinese businesses. Trade in U.S.-, Toronto- and Hong Kong-listed shares of some Chinese companies has been suspended recently, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has set up a group to investigate problems with a number of Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges.

　　评级公司纷纷发布这类报告的时候，一些在海外上市的中资公司正面临对其会计实务的审查以及诈骗指控。一些在美国、多伦多和香港上市的中资公司最近遭停牌。美国证券交易委员会(U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission，简称：SEC)已成立了调查组来调查多家在美上市中资公司的问题。

　　Officials from the SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which oversees audit firms in the U.S., have met with China's Finance Ministry and the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Their hope is to negotiate a deal to allow U.S. examiners to inspect auditing firms based in China that audit U.S.-listed companies. So far, they have been unsuccessful.

　　SEC和监管美国审计机构的美国上市公司会计监管委员会(Public Company Accounting Oversight Board)的官员已和中国财政部及中国证券监督管理委员会的相关官员举行了会谈。美国方面希望通过谈判达成协议，允许美国审查人员能调查那些为在美上市中资企业提供审计服务的中国审计机构。到目前为止，他们还没能取得成功。

　　It isn't unheard of for credit-ratings firms to affect stock prices by highlighting specific problems at the companies whose debt they assess. But the July 11 Moody's report stood out by touching on broad issues affecting scores of companies, while not offering up any specific rating action─something that to many observers looked suspiciously like stock analysis.

　　评级公司影响公司股价的事情并非前所未闻，因为评级公司会对企业的债务进行评估，它们通过强调这些企业明确存在的问题就能影响后者的股价。不过穆迪投资者服务公司7月11日的警示报告却与上述做法不同，它虽然广泛谈及了一系列会影响那61家中资公司债务评级的问题，但却未采取任何明确的评级行动，在许多观察人士看来，这种做法有类似于股票分析的之嫌。

　　Some research teams that traditionally cover stocks weren't impressed. In a report titled “Overly moody?,” Australian investment firm Macquarie argued that ratings firms might unfairly tar a company for actions that bondholders find risky but equity investors encourage, such as spending large sums on equipment needed to boost productivity and profit. Also, Moody's framework for assessing risk “appears debatable in many cases,” Macquarie said.

　　一些专门从事股市研究的机构对此不以为然。在一篇题为《过于情绪化了?》(Overly moody?)（译者注：moody既有情绪化的意思，也与穆迪的英文Moody's谐音）的报告中，澳大利亚投资公司麦格理(Macquarie)说，评级公司可能会因债券持有人认为高风险而股权投资者鼓励的举措而不公平地批评一家公司，比如提高生产效率和利润所需的设备上的巨额支出。此外，麦格理说，穆迪评估风险的系统看来在很多情况下值得商榷。

　　Steve Vickers, chairman of Asia investigations for FTI Consulting Inc., which has done more than 300 investigations into Chinese companies seeking to list overseas, questioned why Moody's hadn't done something sooner. He said the report was “nicely presented but lacking in depth, especially as it related to real-world risk factors.”

　　商业咨询公司FTI Consulting Inc.亚洲调查部门董事长维克斯(Steve Vickers)质疑穆迪为何没有早点采取措施。该公司对拟在海外上市的中国公司已经进行了300多起调查。他说，该报告写的不错，不过缺乏深度，特别是有关实际风险因素方面。

　　The impact on stocks from the Moody's report was enough to attract interest from Hong Kong's market watchdog, the Securities and Futures Commission, which said it would “look into the matter,” but declined to comment further.

　　穆迪报告对股市的影响足以吸引香港股市监管机构香港证监会的关注。香港证监会说将调查此事，不过拒绝进一步置评。

　　Moody's declined to comment on any issues related to the report.

　　穆迪拒绝就与本文有关的问题置评。

　　Fitch also declined comment on its actions.

　　惠誉也拒绝就自己的做法置评。

　　An S&P spokesperson said, “I would like to point out that we require a certain level of interaction and information from the companies we rate, and in the case of Nine Dragons we determined that was no longer forthcoming. In line with our policy of full transparency, we therefore decided to withdraw the ratings after a final review, and communicated that to the market.”

　　标准普尔的发言人说，我想指出的是，我们要求评级对象公司与我们有一定程度的交流，并提供一定的信息，至于玖龙纸业，我们确定交流和信息不再有。按照我们保持完全透明的政策，我们进而决定在进行最后一次评估后撤销评级，并向市场公布了这一消息。

　　After the S&P decision on Nine Dragons, Hong Kong-based shareholder activist David Webb called on the SFC to prohibit credit-ratings companies it regulates from releasing price-sensitive announcements about listed companies during trading hours.

　　在标准普尔做出撤销玖龙纸业评级的决定后，香港的股东维权人士大卫•韦伯(David Webb)呼吁香港证监会禁止所监管的评级公司在交易时段就上市公司发布会影响股价的声明。

　　In the wake of the Moody's report, Mr. Webb joked that perhaps the firm could rename itself “Moody Waters,” referring to the short-seller Muddy Waters, whose research alleging wrongdoing at some Chinese companies led to a major selloff of their shares. “I think this is just a ratings agency trying to be a bit more independent of the companies which pay it for ratings,” he said. Critics have accused ratings firms of being beholden to the companies that pay their fees to rate their debt.

　　在穆迪的报告出炉后，韦伯调侃道，或许穆迪可以更名为“Moody Waters”。此乃暗指卖空者Muddy Waters，这家公司的研究报告声称一些中国公司存在违法行为，进而引发了这些公司的股票遭大规模抛售。他说，我认为这只是一家评级机构试图从一定程度上撇清与向其交钱请其评级的公司的关系。批评人士指责评级公司对向其交钱请其对债务进行评级的公司感恩戴德。

　　Several readers of the Moody's report offered praise. An analyst at a hedge fund in the U.S. applauded the company for its efforts, arguing “it is far better to be aware of the issues so that you can make an informed decision than be ignorant of them.”

　　数位阅读过穆迪报告的人对报告表示赞许。美国一只对冲基金的一位分析师对穆迪此举大加赞扬，说知晓问题以便根据充分的信息做出决定远比忽视这些问题要好。