Moody's Puerto Rico Downgrade Raises Default Fears

``Moody's, however, was wary of the distinction that Puerto Rico is trying to make. "By providing for defaults by certain issuers that the central government has long supported, Puerto Rico's new law marks the end of the commonwealth's long history of taking actions needed to support its debt. It signals a depleted capacity for revenue increases and austerity measures and a new preference for shifting fiscal pressures to creditors, which, in our view, has implications for all of Puerto Rico's debt, including that of the central government."''