Bangkok--7 Aug--Standard & Poor's The remaining months of 2008 will require skillful navigation through a challenging financial and economic landscape, said an article published today by Standard & Poor's. The article, which is titled "Global Credit Outlook: Risk Will Remain A Four-Letter Word (Premium)," says that early expectations that timely monetary easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks would quickly lay the foundation in place for a speedy recovery in the financial markets are increasingly at risk. "We have long been proponents of the view that the credit euphoria of the prior boom years beginning with 2003 would necessitate a shakeout and purge," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research Group. "This would result in substantially higher downgrades and defaults, concentrated in the U.S., but not without repercussions in other parts of the world." Indeed, the latest batch of data attests that economic momentum is decelerating at a rapid clip in Europe and--to a lesser extent--in Japan. Emerging markets are holding strong at the moment--partially based on support from commodity prices, but they could come under pressure if commodity markets lose steam or world aggregate demand deteriorates at a faster rate than anticipated. This article is part of our premium Global Fixed Income Research content, which is available to premium subscribers of RatingsDirect, the real-time Web-based source for Standard & Poor's credit ratings, research, and risk analysis, at www.ratingsdirect.com. 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 Contact: Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760