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I'm working with sovereign ratings at present. With regard to Moody's there are a few things unclear to me in their definitions. Both questions refer to the sovereign rating history in Bloomberg CSDR (Foreign Currency LT debt)
What does a (P) prefix indicate? Example (taken from Cyprus): (P)Caa3, (P)B3 and (P)Ba3. It is not clear to me what this prefix indicates and I couldn't find any explanation in their methodolgy.
What does the rating WR stand for?
(P) prefix : As a service to the market and typically at the request of an issuer, Moody's will assign a provisional rating when it is highly likely that the rating will become final after all documents are received, or an obligation is issued into the market. A provisional rating is denoted by placing a (P) in front of the rating. Such ratings may also be assigned to shelf registrations under SEC rule 415.
WR is the Rating withdrawn for reasons including: debt maturity, calls, puts, conversions, etc., or business reasons (e.g. change in the size of a debt issue), or the issuer defaults
