Petrobras sinks on Moody’s downgrade to junk, likely rig cancellations

• Petrobras (PBR -8.3%) plunges in early trading after Moody's downgraded the heavily indebted company's long-term debt to a junk Ba2 rating from Baa3 with a negative outlook.
• Brazil's finance minister reportedly made a last-minute attempt to the rating agency to try to reverse the decision, offering a guarantee that the government would support the company if necessary.
• "The main concern now will be another cut to junk by Fitch or S&P, which could lead the company’s bonds to be sold by many institutional investors," says the head of fixed income at Andbanc Brokerage.
• Separately, PBR reportedly will not renew leases on at least four drilling rigs from Seadrill (SDRL +0.2%), Pacific Drilling (PACD -2.2%) and Diamond Offshore (DO -1.6%) that have been under negotiation since last year; DO already had disclosed the cancellation in its latest 10-K, and SDRL recently warned that contract extensions with PBR likely would fail.