Bangkok--2 Sep--Standard & Poor's
The number of issuers poised for upgrades increased by four in August to a total of 161, compared with 157 in our previous report, said an article published August 31 by Standard & Poor's, titled "Upgrade Potential Across Credit Grades And Sectors (Premium)." The current count is 119 less than a year ago and 29 less than the trailing-12-month average.
Potential upgrades are defined as issuers that have either a positive outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with positive implications across rating categories 'AA+' to 'B-'.
"Potential upgrades were at their peak in December 2006, totaling 407 issuers, the highest monthly tally on record since our data series began in 1995. The lowest was 136 issuers in March 2009," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research Group. "Global downgrade potential also has eased slightly, to 955 issuers, compared with 965 in our previous report."
Two months ago, the telecommunications sector's current positive bias exceeded its long-term average. Since then, its current positive bias has fallen below its long-term average and remains there now, particularly as a result of a handful of materialized upgrades and the assignment of stable outlooks. Positive bias is defined as the proportion of entities listed with either a positive outlook or with ratings on CreditWatch with positive implications.
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 Ratings in the left navigation bar, select Find a Rating. Members of the media may request a copy of this report by contacting the media representative provided.
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