Standard & Poor's Rating Services just lowered its ratings of Fidelity parent FMR. Another Financial Portal's Mike Scorelle reports that the rating agency lowered FMR's counterparty credit ratings from AA-/A-1+ to A+/A-1, with a negative outlook. Yet a spokeswoman for Fidelity told The MFWire that the firm is "very well-positioned for the future" and not actually looking to do any big borrowing any time soon.

"Fidelity's core financial services performed well last year and throughout the first quarter of this year," Fidelity spokeswoman Anne Crowley told The MFWire, pointing to the Boston-based firm's "unique and diverse businesses" and its strong brand. "Our liquidity profile is good. Our overall liquidity improved in '08 and our capital position and balance sheet remain very strong."

"We believe the S&P action may be more a reflection of the world wide financial turmoil than of Fidelity," Crowley added.

In explaining the move, S&P credit analyst Charles Rauch highlighted FMR's "decline in profitability" and a 21.9 percent drop in AUM in 2008, but he also praised FMR's "diverse financial services franchise with strong distribution and god on-balance-sheet liquidity." 

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