Moody's Investors Service on Aug. 17 warned it may cut the long-and short-term credit and debt ratings of Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and their finance arms, Ford Motor Credit Co. and General Motors Acceptance Corp., following a similar move earlier in the day by Standard & Poor's.

Downgrades for Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford and Detroit-based GM would probably increase the companies' borrowing costs and make it more difficult for either to sell short-term debt known as "commercial paper." Moody's reviews cover Ford's and GM's "A-2" long-term and "A-1" short-term ratings.

Moody's said its reviews will focus on the automakers' strategies in an "increasingly competitive environment" as they try to "reconfigure" their operational structures. Moody's usually completes its reviews in three months. S&P said it expects to complete its own reviews by late October.

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