S&P Ratings

We recently refined our group rating methodology criteria, adding U.S. public finance borrowers and global issuers in the corporate sector. The criteria also applies to the financial institutions and insurance sectors. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Director Liz Sweeney explains how the group rating methodology affects public finance entities, and why group credit profiles play such an important role in the process.

In this week’s Extra Credit segment, Standard & Poor’s Senior Director Dave Hitchcock takes a big picture look at states’ other post-employment benefit liabilities, and Managing Director Martin Arrick and Senior Director Jane Ridley explain our recent request for comment on standalone hospitals and the latest developments in Detroit, respectively.

Increasing home prices, relatively unattractive mortgage rates, and supply constraints have brought the resiliency of the U.S. housing recovery to the forefront. In this segment, Standard & Poor’s U.S. Economist Satyam Panday discusses housing and what may lie ahead.

As the U.K. economy shifts to a recovery phase, mid-market companies face a contracting bank lending market. In this Standard & Poor's CreditMattersTV segment, Taron Wade, Associate Director, Research, discusses how more information about the financial performance of these firms could help in the development of capital market funding for this sector.

As of Nov. 8, emerging markets account for 22 of the 54 global potential fallen angels. We define potential fallen angels as issuers rated 'BBB-' with either negative outlooks or ratings on CreditWatch negative. Conversely, emerging markets account for only three of the 16 potential rising stars. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Associate Director Gregg Moskowitz explains the key trends.

We recently revised our criteria for determining the issuer credit ratings on corporate industrial companies and utilities. The criteria will govern any new ratings issued. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Global Criteria Officer Mark Puccia provides an overview of the revised criteria components and the impact on ratings.

The number of rising stars has increased by two entities to 31 since the last reporting period. Standard & Poor's defines rising stars as issuers that we have upgraded to investment grade from speculative grade. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Associate Director Gregg Moskowitz explains the key trends and data points.

Howard Esaki, Standard & Poor's Global Head of Structured Finance Research, discusses retail trends over the Thanksgiving weekend, in which E-commerce increased but brick-and mortar sales fell.

The external imbalances that built up before the eurozone debt crisis struck are slowly correcting, a prerequisite for the deleveraging process of periphery economies. Standard & Poor's Moritz Kraemer explains why the simmering debt crisis will be lastingly resolved only when the eurozone’s economic rebalancing is secured and on a sustainable footing.

The global fallen angels count has remained at 19 since our last report. The count was 37 at this time last year and 32 two years ago. We define fallen angels as issuers that Standard & Poor's downgrades to speculative grade from investment grade. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Associate Director Gregg Moskowitz explains the key trends.

The rating for The Netherlands has been revised to AA+ with a stable outlook, from AAA. In this CreditMatters TV, associate Benjamin Young discusses the main factors behind this change, including weaker growth prospects.

Covering noteworthy research produced by S&P analysts in the region, “Latin America Monday Morning Round-Up” provides investors with a quick credit overview to start their week. Senior Director Jose Coballasi hosts this weekly segment of CreditMatters TV.

Many large U.S. banks have been hit with lawsuits related to residential mortgages they originated or packaged into securities during 2005-2008. The industry may have to pay up to an additional $105 billion to settle all the suits. But we don’t expect the outcome to affect ratings. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Senior Director Stuart Plesser explains how the resolutions could shake out.

Standard & Poor's has revised the outlook on Spain to stable from negative. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Chief Rating Officer Moritz Kraemer discusses the main factors behind the change, which include a rebalancing of the economy following budgetary and structural reforms.

Low interest rates remain the main driver affecting S&P’s ratings on German insurers. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor's Associate Director Christian Badorff discusses the effect of low interest rates and other external factors on the financial strength of German insurers, and why some insurers are better able to withstand these than others.