Bangkok--1 Aug--Standard & Poor's Globally, 20 companies (12 public and eight confidentially rated) defaulted in the second quarter of 2008, according to an article published today by Standard & Poor's. The article, which is titled "Quarterly Default Update And Rating Transitions (Premium)," says that this is the highest number of defaults since the third quarter of 2003 and only two fewer than the total number of defaults for all of 2007. The volume of rated debt affected by last quarter's defaults was $18.05 billion. "This is significantly higher than the $8.55 billion recorded in 2007 though well below the most recent peak of $25.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005," observed Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research Group. All the 20 defaults reported in the second quarter of 2008 were domiciled in the U.S., with all but two coming from the nonfinancial sector. Globally, the corporate default rate for speculative-grade rated entities moved to 0.51% at the end of the second quarter of 2008 from 0.16% for the same period in 2007. On a trailing-12-month basis, the global speculative-grade default rate as of June 30, 2008, has reached a 29-month high of 1.44%, though it is below the long-term (1981-2007) average of 4.35%, where it has stayed for 44 consecutive months. Today Standard & Poor's also published another article, titled "Second-Quarter 2008 Quarterly Default Synopses," that summarizes each of the 20 second-quarter 2008 defaults. Also included are the defaulting instruments for each company that was rated by Standard & Poor's. 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: Mimi Barker, New York (1) 212-438-5054, [email protected] Analyst Contacts: Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760