S&P downgrade Bear Stearns Credit Rating

--Bear Stearns Cos.' credit rating wascut by Standard & Poor's after the securities firm said it wouldwrite down the value of subprime assets by $1.2 billion, leadingto its first quarterly loss since becoming a public company. --Standard & Poor's lowered Bear Stearns's long-term debtrating to A from A+ and kept the short-term rating at A-1, therating company said in a statement today. A is the sixth-highest investment grade on a scale of 10, while A-1 is the second best for short-term debt out of four investment-grade ratings. --writedown scale is small, but not small relative to its firm size --monoline business, heavy reliance on mortgage-based revenue comments: --the company might not suffer a loss due to its hedging