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Moody’s reviewing possible mistakes
    NEW YORK — Moody’s Investors Service shares fell sharply Wednesday as the credit ratings agency said it is reviewing whether computer errors wrongly assigned top-quality ratings to debt in Europe that didn’t warrant high marks.
    Moody’s said in a statement after the market close on Wednesday that it had hired a law firm to conduct an outside review of how it rates the debt in question, which was aimed at institutional investors. Moody’s said it rated about $4 billion of the debt in Europe known as constant-proportion debt obligation, or CPDOs.
    The disclosure follows a Financial Times report that Moody’s incorrectly gave triple-A ratings to the CPDOs. The report also cited internal documents that it said indicated some senior officials at Moody’s were aware early last year of the error.
    The ratings help investors decide which instruments are of sufficient quality.
    SEC spokesman John Nester said it was unclear whether the debt instruments in question were sold in the U.S. and subject to the agency’s authority. However, he said, the SEC is working on a wide-ranging examination of the credit rating agencies’ practices that is due to be complete this summer.