Moody's: Morgan, Goldman Outlooks Darken

Updated from 2:24 a.m. EDT

Morgan Stanley's (MS) credit rating may be cut by Moody's Investors Service, and the outlook on Goldman Sachs' (GS) credit rating was lowered to negative by the ratings agency.

Moody's placed Morgan Stanley's A1 long-term credit rating on review for a downgrade. The outlook on Goldman's Aa3 rating was lowered to negative.

Shares of Morgan Stanley were falling 18% to $10.20 Friday morning, while shares of Goldman were off 6.6% to $94.63.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial(MTU), Japan's largest bank, on Thursday said it had no plans to pull out of a planned investment in Morgan Stanley.

Investors are worried, however, because Mitsubishi's purchase price of $25 a share now is roughly double Morgan Stanley's closing stock price Thursday of $12.45, the Wall Street Journal reports. With Morgan Stanley shares so low, the $9 billion commitment for 21% of the firm two weeks ago could now buy a 65% stake, the Journal adds.

Although there is no break-up fee on the deal, Mitsubishi is bound by its contract with Morgan Stanley and would face potentially unlimited liabilities if it were to walk away. The future of Morgan Stanley might rest on whether Mitsubishi will honor its word, despite billions of dollars of immediate paper losses it would suffer on its investment, the Journal reports.

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