Bangkok--6 Jun--Standard & Poor's
The number of entities globally that are most at risk of downgrades has increased by one since last month to 458 as of May 26, said an article published today by Standard & Poor's, titled "Global Potential Downgrades: A Slight Increase For The Second Month In A Row."
"The total remains far below its peak of 1,028 in April 2009, but this month marks the second consecutive increase in the number of potential downgrades," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research. "Despite this slight increase, ratings across most sectors appear more stable now than they have historically."
Potential downgrades are entities that have either negative outlooks or ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications across rating categories 'AAA' to 'B-'.
Since our last report, we removed 43 entities from the potential downgrades list, and we added 44.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services downgraded 28 entities that were on the potential downgrades list last month. Of these, 13 remain on the list with negative outlooks or ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications.
"In our view, 17 of the 21 sectors show lower downgrade risk than they have historically," said Ms. Vazza. "When we measured the gap between the current negative bias and the historical averages, we found that credit conditions in most sectors are less negative than they have been historically."
The report is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect on the Global Credit Portal at www.globalcreditportal.com. If you are not a RatingsDirect subscriber, you may purchase a copy of the report by calling (1) 212-438-7280 or sending an e-mail to
[email protected]. 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 Contacts:
Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760