Moody’s To Lower Hartford Financial’s Ratings

MarketWatch reports that Moody’s has lowered its ratings for Hartford Financial. The annuity provider’s life insurance business was downgraded to A1. This means Hartford no longer is high-credit-quality. Future downgrades could be forthcoming, since Moody’s also has a negative outlook for Hartford. A Hartford representative blames the credit crunch for making it harder to hedge against future losses in variable annuities.