In September 2011, with the European fiscal crisis regularly in the news, it was reported that Moody’s Investors Services was expected to cut the ratings of three large French banks because of their large holdings of Greek government debt. A move such as this would lower investor confidence in French banks and lead to falling stock prices for these institutions. In fact, simply the expectation of such a move would lead to falling stock prices for these companies. Security prices are determined largely by the expectations of market participants.