MONDAY, OCTOBER 25: Shares of Bermuda-based Assured Guaranty Ltd. fell more than ten percent in afternoon trading after the firm was stripped of the bond insurance industry’s last AAA rating by Standard & Poor’s today.

The company is alone in writing new insurance in the $2.8 trillion US municipal-bond market after major rivals MBIA and Ambac faltered because of guarantees on securities linked to home loans that soured.

S&P cut its financial strength and counterparty credit rankings on Assured Guaranty Corp. and Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. one level to AA+.

S&P left its outlook for Assured as “stable,” saying it expects it to maintain “its relatively strong position” in the industry.

Assured shares fell $1.93 to $19.35 by 2.35 p.m. Bermuda time in New York Stock Exchange trading.

For more, read tomorrow's Business Section of The Royal Gazette.