Bangkok--29 Aug--Standard & Poor's The housing slump, the consumer slowdown, higher oil prices, and negative credit market fundamentals have combined to erode credit quality across U.S. financial and nonfinancial corporations, said an article published today by Standard & Poor's. The article, which is titled "U.S. Credit Comment: Five Sectors Poised For Downgrades (Premium)," says that so far this year, there have been 361 downgrades and 130 upgrades (2.8 downgrades per upgrade) versus 382 downgrades and 277 upgrades (1.4 downgrades per upgrade) in all of 2007. "The outlook for corporates has also become increasingly negative, with negative bias for parent-level firms at 28% on Aug. 22," noted Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research Group. "This is up from 24% at the end of 2007." (Negative bias is the percentage of all rated firms with a negative outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications.) Although the potential for further downgrades has increased across the corporate landscape, five sectors stand out because of their relatively high negative bias or because of their level of downgrade potential far exceeds their historical level. This report details these five sectors: financials, transportation, automotive, forest products and building materials, and media and entertainment. "We expect that the four nonfinancial sectors could produce a number of defaulters over the next year," Ms. Vazza added, "as 52 firms from these four sectors have ratings of 'B-' or lower and a negative bias." 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: Adam Tempkin, New York (1) 212-438-7530, [email protected] Analyst Contacts: Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760