1.   Kmart called the rating cuts excessively severe and unwarranted.

2.   The aggressive rating cuts may not mollify investors who sharply criticized the agencies for being slow to act in recent weeks.

3.   The drop follows a wave of rating cuts by analysts who follow the stock.

4.   The credit downgrade reflects the severe fiscal crunch facing the California county, would could lead to future rating cuts.

5.   The unprecedented rating cuts triggered concern Asian governments and companies may be shut out of international bond markets and raised the specter of a wave of corporate defaults.

6.   Those rating cuts are already making it more expensive for the banks to raise funds.

7.   To compete with newer, higher-rate bonds, the price of California bonds issued before the rating cut would have to fall.

8.   The rating cut is also an embarrassment to Japan, which has been unable to extract itself from a prolonged economic slump.