The nation's three dominant credit-ratings providers have made an urgent new request of their clients: Please don't use our credit ratings.

The odd plea is emerging as the first consequence of the financial overhaul that is to be signed into law by President Barack Obama on Wednesday. And it already is creating havoc in the bond markets, parts of which are shutting down in response to the request.

Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings are all refusing to allow their ratings to be used in documentation for new bond sales, each said in statements in recent days. Each says it fears being exposed to new legal liability created by the landmark Dodd-Frank financialreform law.

The new law will make ratings firms liable for the quality of their ratings decisions, effective immediately. The companies say that, until they get a better understanding of their legal exposure, they are refusing to let bond issuers use their ratings.

That is important because some bonds, notably those made up of consumer loans, are required by law to include ratings in their official documentation. That means the $1.4 trillion markets for mortgages, autos, student loans and credit cards, could be affected by a slowdown.

There have been no new asset-backed bonds put on sale this week, in stark contrast to last week, when $3 billion of issues were sold. Market participants say the new law is partly behind the slowdown.

'We are at a standstill right now,' Bingham McCutchen partner Ed Gainor, who specializes in asset-backed securities.

Several companies are shelving their bond offerings 'indefinitely,' according to Tom Deutsch, executivedirector of the American Securitization Forum, which represents the market for bonds backed by assets such as auto loans and credit cards.

Anusha Shrivastava

• consequence [´kɔnsikwəns] n.结果；后果；推断 (初中英语单词)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
• wednesday [´wenzdi] n.星期三 (初中英语单词)
• reform [ri´fɔ:m] v.&n.改革；改良；革除 (初中英语单词)
• effective [i´fektiv] a.有效的；有力的 (初中英语单词)
• contrast [´kɔntrɑ:st] n.对比 v.使对比(照) (初中英语单词)
• partly [´pɑ:tli] ad.部分地；不完全地 (初中英语单词)
• partner [´pɑ:tnə] n.伙伴 v.同....合作 (初中英语单词)
• executive [ig´zekjutiv] a.行政的 n.行政官 (初中英语单词)
• director [di´rektə] n.指导者；....长；导演 (初中英语单词)
• response [ri´spɔns] n.回答；响应 (高中英语单词)
• liable [´laiəbəl] a.易于...的；有责任的 (高中英语单词)
• exposure [ik´spəuʒə] n.暴露；曝光(时间) (高中英语单词)
• consumer [kən´sju:mə] n.消费者；用户 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• dominant [´dɔminənt] a.统治的；占优势的 (英语四级单词)
• urgent [´ə:dʒənt] a.急迫的，紧急的 (英语四级单词)
• liability [,laiə´biliti] n.责任 负债 (英语四级单词)
• landmark [´lændmɑ:k] n.界标；里程碑 (英语六级单词)
• notably [´nəutəbli] ad.显著地；著名地 (英语六级单词)
• affected [ə´fektid] a.做作的；假装的 (英语六级单词)