The Blue Oval is back where it belongs.

Last week we noted that Ford "hasn't yet gotten its iconic Blue Oval out of hock, but additional ratings-agency bumps of Ford bonds are expected to move that moment closer, as Ford seeks to regain control of one of the major assets it pledged as collateral in its private-borrowing spree before the Great Recession."

That day has come. With Moody's Investors Service's move today to upgrade Ford's debt, Ford has taken its iconic corporate logo out of hock, where it had resided for more than five years. Ford helped secure $18.5 billion in debt in December 2006 by pledging the Blue Oval along with substantially all of its domestic assets, which also included the F-150 and Mustang trademarks — as well as $5 billion of unsecured convertible debt.

"This is a great day for us and is the result of several years of hard work and progress by everyone associated with Ford," Bill Ford, executive chairman, said in a press release. Not to mention the risks that Ford took by recapitalizing in the private market, before the onset of the Great Recession, that rivals General Motors and Chrysler avoided through the federal-taxpayer bailouts in 2009. Ford couldn't get possession of the logo back from its banks until three credit-ratings services had bumped up its ratings, and Moody's was the third.Continue reading...

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You've got to hand it to Dov Charney. The mustachioed founder/CEO of American Apparel doesn't give a damn (or a tee) that his once-hip hipster fashion line has been given less than 18 months to live.

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Yes, 24/7 Wall Street feels you'd better enjoy that bowl of Kellogg’s Corn Pops while wearing some American Apparel clothing and reading your Soap Opera Digest right now. Get a call in on your Nokia phone while you’re at it and grab a bite at an A&W restaurant.Continue reading...

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