S&P places Moody's on CreditWatch

June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Moody’s Corp.’s short-term debt ranking of A-1 was placed on CreditWatch with negative implications by rival credit rating company Standard & Poor’s.

“We believe there may be added risk to U.S.-based credit rating agency Moody’s business profile following recent U.S. legislation that may lower margins and increase litigation related costs for credit rating agencies,” S&P, a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos., said in a today statement.

Moody’s and S&P, both based in New York, along with Fitch Ratings, owned by Paris-based Financiere Marc de Lacharriere SA, have drawn criticism from officials, including Financial Crisis Inquiry Chairman Phil Angelides, and from investors after assigning top ratings to securities that collapsed in value.