Fitch: U.S. Public Finance Credit Continued to Improve Through First Quarter of 2007.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. reports that the credit outlook for the U.S. Public Finance sector continued to improve through the first quarter of 2007. For the fourth consecutive quarter, rating upgrades outnumbered Outnumbered is a British sitcom that aired on BBC One in 2007.[1] It stars Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner as a mother and father who are outnumbered by their three children. downgrades in the sector. In addition, for the first time since Fitch U.S. Public Finance began publishing a comparative ratio in 2002, credits on Positive Rating Outlook outnumbered those on Negative Rating Outlook. Fitch plans to issue a full follow-up report recapping the credit outlook in the first quarter for U.S. Public Finance in the coming weeks which will be made available on the company's web site www.fitchratings.com. Rating Actions: Rating upgrades outnumbered downgrades 3:1, or 1.9:1 on par basis, in the public finance sector. Of the 36 credits upgraded in the most recent quarter, 20 were tax-supported. In addition, thirteen of the upgraded tax-supported credits were state appropriation bonds upgraded as part of a general effort by Fitch to more closely align appropriations-backed debt with general obligation (GO) ratings (see 'Amendment: Fitch Initiates Outlooks on U.S. State A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States, although four states use the official title "commonwealth". The separate state governments and the federal government share sovereignty, in that an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and Appropriation Bonds; Upgrades Certain State Credit', dated Feb. 13, 2007 and available on the Fitch web site www.fitchratings.com. The healthcare revenue supported sector had the next greatest number of rating upgrades with seven vs. two downgrades. Essex County Essex County can refer to:
A budget in which the income equals expenditure. See: budget. balanced budget A budget in which the expenditures incurred during a given period are matched by revenues. and a growing tax base. Also noteworthy was the upgrade for the Florida Housing Finance Corporation homeowner mortgage revenue bonds ($860 million par value) (upgraded to 'AA+' from 'AA'). 12 credits were downgraded in the first quarter of 2007, with a par value of $10.2 billion. Five were tax supported, including $4.2 billion of the State of Michigan's debt spread across various credits including GO ('AA' to 'AA-') and appropriation-backed debt ('AA-' to 'A+'). Michigan's economy continues to suffer due to its dependence on the declining automotive sector. Ratings on the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund Finance Corporation were also downgraded; $2.8 billion of bonds were downgraded to 'AA-' from 'AA' and $1.35 billion of extendible floating-rate notes were downgraded to 'AA-/F1+' from 'AA/F1+' due to recent legislative changes that significantly increased the potential exposure of the Fund. Another notable downgrade was of Nashville and Davidson County Davidson County is the name of two counties in the United States:
Rating Watch: As of March 31, 2007 there were 28 credits on Rating Watch Negative (RWN RWN Right Wing News (weblog) RWN Rural Women's Network (Australia) RWN Arens Field Airport (Winamac, Indiana, USA) RWN Reconfigurable Wireless Network ) and two on Rating Watch Positive (RWP RWP - Remote Write Protocol ). That is an increase of five credits on RWN and no net change on RWP from the prior quarter. Five tribal gaming ratings were placed on RWN this quarter pending a criteria review. Fitch published proposed criteria changes at the end of 2006 that will likely lead to downgrades for most of these credits once new criteria are finalized. Susquehanna Regional Airport Authority was placed on RWN this quarter, after a downgrade in fourth quarter of 2006. This is the second RWN in the last year for Susquehanna; Fitch expects to resolve the RWN within several months following discussions with management. Rating Outlook: As of March 31, 2007, there were 102 credits on Positive Rating Outlook compared to 84 on Negative Rating Outlook, yielding a ratio of 1.2:1, compared to a ratio of 0.93:1 as of December 31, 2006. The ratio change this quarter came largely from the healthcare revenue supported sector with five changes to Positive Rating Outlook, and seven changed from Negative Rating Outlook to Stable. The transportation and higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. sectors were the only sectors with more Negative Outlooks than positive ones. Airports are a particular concern with eight credits having a Negative Rating Outlook, compared to five with a Positive Rating Outlook. Transition Analysis: Fitch introduces a new set of transition analysis data relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc trends in U.S. Public Finance rating volatility. The data indicate the overall movement of credit ratings over the course of specific time periods. In general, the transition analysis indicates stability in U.S. Public Finance credits. For example, between 1990 and 2006, 95.78% of credits rated in the 'A' category maintained their rating in that category over a one-year period. Investment grade credits tended to be more stable than below investment grade credits with 96.35% of investment grade credits maintaining their rating category over a one-year period vs. 82.68% of 'BB' category and 79.59% of 'B' category credits. Fallen angels are rare, with only 0.44% of investment grade credits falling to below investment grade over a one-year period. Fitch plans to provide the ratings transition analysis tables in the follow-up report in May. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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