Bangkok--28 Oct--Standard & Poor's
The number of global issuers poised for downgrades declined this month to 890 from 921 in September--the first time this count has been less than 900 this year, said an article published today by Standard & Poor's, titled "Downgrade Potential Across Credit Grades And Sectors (Premium)." This decline is owed largely to materialized downgrades with assignments of stable outlooks.
Potential downgrades are defined as entities that have either a negative outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications across rating categories 'AAA' to 'B-'.
"The pace of downgrades as a proportion of total rating actions has begun to show signs of stability, with the quarterly downgrade-to-upgrade ratio, both in the U.S. and globally, declining to roughly 3 to 1 as of third-quarter 2009," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research Group. "This is on par with the average of the past 20 years and is less than one-fourth the ratio seen two quarters ago."
Despite materialized downgrades throughout the sectors, banks displayed the highest downgrade propensity, closely followed by sectors such as media and entertainment, insurance, consumer products, utilities, and transportation.
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Media Contact:
Mimi Barker, New York (1) 212-438-5054, [email protected]
Analyst Contacts:
Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760