กรุงเทพฯ--1 ต.ค.--Standard & Poor's
U.S. nonfinancial credit quality improved in September, said an article published today by Standard & Poor's, titled "U.S. Nonfinancial Industries Credit Quality Review: September 2009 (Premium)." Upgrades outpaced downgrades 16 to 15 through Sept. 25.
"The large drop in downgrades from the prior months supports our belief that aggregate credit quality, although weak, is slowly beginning to stabilize," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research Group. "We expect downgrades will continue, though at a slower pace than in the first half of the year."
Downgrades total 818 on a 12-month-trailing basis. Nonfinancial upgrades have been relatively sparse over the past 12 months, at only 113. However, upgrades have started to pick up, with Standard & Poor's raising its ratings on 49 entities since the end of May.
Positive bias has increased but remains well below the historical average, with few sectors having more than a couple of entities with a positive outlook or ratings on CreditWatch positive. Negative bias, the proportion of entities with either a negative outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications, is declining gradually across a number of sectors, though it generally remains elevated.
This article is part of our premium Global Fixed Income Research content, which is available to premium subscribers to RatingsDirect, at www.ratingsdirect.com. 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.
Media Contact:
Ana Sandoval, New York (1) 212-438-5095, [email protected]
Analyst Contact:
Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760