Bangkok--1 Feb--Standard & Poor's The number of entities at risk of downgrades reached a two-year high of 687 in January, resulting from heightened market volatility largely caused by the housing-related segment, according to an article published today by Standard & Poor's. The report, titled "Downgrade Potential Across Credit Grades And Sectors (Premium)," says that the number of potential downgrades is 25 more than reported last month and 52 more than the average in 2007. "Geographically, the U.S. continues to top the list of potential bond downgrades, in part, because of greater credit volatility and because of a larger rated population," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research Group. "Of the total number of entities, about 66% are based in the U.S. and 17% in Europe." The highest ratio of issuers with a negative bias relative to their total rated universe continues to be concentrated in the consumer products, media and entertainment, retail/restaurants, and automotive sectors, indicating that these sectors have high vulnerability to credit-quality deterioration. Among them, media and entertainment entities have consistently appeared in our monthly potential downgrade reports since the beginning of 2007. Weakness in the consumer discretionary domain is not surprising, given the negative effect of an economic slowdown, the housing decline, and volatility in energy prices. Ms. Vazza added, "'B' rated companies are most at risk for potential downgrades, with 149 companies or 22% of the total. Of the 687 companies at risk for downgrades globally, 63% have ratings of 'BB+' or lower." The report is available to RatingsDirect subscribers who have upgraded their package to include the Global Fixed Income Research add-on. RatingsDirect is the real-time Web-based source for Standard & Poor's credit ratings, research, and risk analysis, at www.ratingsdirect.com. If you are not a RatingsDirect subscriber with the Global Fixed Income Research add-on, please contact your local Standard & Poor's representative or [email protected] for further information. Ratings information can also be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; under Credit Ratings in the left navigation bar, select Find a Rating, then Credit Ratings Search. Members of the media may request a copy of this report by contacting the media representative provided.