Bangkok--3 Dec--Standard & Poor's
The number of global issuers poised for downgrades has declined to 519--nearly half the 1,028 potential downgrades at this time in 2009, said an article published today by Standard & Poor's, titled "Downgrade Potential Across Credit Grades And Sectors (Premium)."
Much of this decline has resulted from global economies and markets that are more supportive of stable, though weak, credit quality than they were a year ago.
Potential downgrades are entities that have either a negative outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications across rating categories 'AAA' to 'B-'.
Finance companies; capital goods; integrated oil and gas; and metals, mining, and steel saw the largest changes in negative bias this past month. Each sector's negative bias declined by more than 3%. (Negative bias is the proportion of issuers with a negative outlook or ratings on CreditWatch negative to the total number of rated issuers.)
"When measured by the gap between the current negative bias and the historical averages, finance companies, integrated oil and gas, and banks show more substantial downgrade risk than their peers," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research. "On the other hand, retail and restaurants, high technology, consumer products, and telecommunications show less downgrade risk than their peers."
Geographically, the majority of issuers at the highest risk of downgrades are based in the U.S., with 48% of ratings showing downside risk. Europe follows, with 27%.
The standard version of this article is part of our standard Global Fixed Income Research content. The premium version contains expanded analysis of the article's most significant points, typically broken out by sector and region. Also in the premium version are in-depth charts and tables, the underlying data of which are available for download. Ratings information can also be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site by using the Ratings search box located in the left column at www.standardandpoors.com. Members of the media may request a copy of this report by contacting the media representative provided.
Media Contact:
Mimi Barker, New York (1) 212-438-5054,
[email protected]
Analyst Contact:
Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760