Bangkok--24 Jun--Standard & Poor's After breaking 20% earlier in the year, the Standard & Poor's distress ratio has fallen to 13.7% in June from 15.1% last month, according to an article published today. The article, which is titled "U.S. Distressed Debt Monitor: Distress Slides Into Summer (Premium)," said that the decrease in the distress ratio follows receding speculative-grade bond spreads, which fell to 626 basis points (bps) on June 16 from 66 bps on May 15. (Distressed credits are speculative-grade rated issues that have option-adjusted spreads of more than 1,000 bps relative to Treasuries.) Despite the slight drop, the distress ratio is still well above its all-time low of 0.8% recorded in June 2007. "By debt volume, the leading sector of distress is media and entertainment at $24.2 billion," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research Group. "Also, constructing a distress ratio based on outstanding debt reveals that much of the high-yield debt associated with this sector is concentrated among issuers trading at distressed levels." Although the conventional distress ratio for media and entertainment is 22%, a debt-based measure yields 25.9%. Among distressed bonds, the total number of rated companies with issues trading with spreads of 1,000 bps and higher is currently 122 compared with 142 last month. RatingsDirect is the real-time Web-based source for Standard & Poor's credit ratings, research, and risk analysis, at www.ratingsdirect.com. 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 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. Media Contact: David Wargin, New York (1) 212-438-1579, [email protected] Analyst Contact: Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760 Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP), is the world's foremost provider of financial market intelligence, including independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With approximately 8,500 employees, including wholly owned affiliates, located in 23 countries and markets, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for more than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit http://www.standardandpoors.com. Key Contacts: Americas Media Relations: (1) 212-438-6667 media_ [email protected] Americas Customer Service: (1) 212-438-7280 [email protected]