Fitch Publishes First Quarter 2007 U.S. Corporate Bond Market Report.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. has published a new report offering a macro view of par rating activity and issuance patterns for the U.S. bond market in the first quarter of 2007, as well as a look at the profile of bonds scheduled to mature in 2007-2009 by rating and industry. The par value of U.S. corporate bonds affected by upgrades totaled $106.3 billion in the first quarter of 2007, or 3.2% of market volume, while downgrades affected $25.3 billion in bonds, or 0.8% of market volume. Upgrades were particularly robust across the pool of highly rated banking and finance issues with $80.9 billion in upgrades. Excluding the financials, rating activity across investment grade industrial bonds remained net negative; with downgrades ($16.4 billion) continuing to top upgrades ($3.1 billion). 'At the speculative Speculative Securities that involve a high level of risk. speculative Of or relating to an asset or a group of assets with uncertain returns. The greater the degree of uncertainty the more speculative the asset. grade level, however, industrials fared better with upgrades of $23.6 billion surpassing downgrades of $8.3 billion in the first quarter' said Paul Paul, 1901–64, king of the Hellenes (1947–64), brother and successor of George II. He married (1938) Princess Frederika of Brunswick. During Paul's reign Greece followed a pro-Western policy, and the Cyprus question was temporarily resolved. Mancuso Mancuso may refer to:
For the U.S. bond market overall, first-quarter upgrades were concentrated in the following sectors: --Banking and Finance $80.9 billion, 5.5% of sector volume; --Energy $9 billion, 5.1% of sector volume; --Utilities $3.3 billion, 1.2% of sector volume; --Telecommunication $2.3 billion, 1.4% of sector volume. Leading first quarter downgrades: --Telecommunication $5.1 billion, 3.0% of sector volume; --Health Care and Pharmaceutical $3.5 billion, 3.2% of sector volume; --Transportation $3 billion, 3.3% of sector volume; --Food, Beverage and Tobacco $2.4 billion, 3.0% of sector volume. New issuance totaled $231 billion in the first quarter of 2007, up 12% compared with 2006's first-quarter tally of $207 billion. The quarter's strong results were mostly driven by the financials, as new issuance rose to $146.7 billion compared with $112.2 billion in the first quarter of 2006. Industrial issuance across both the investment and speculative grade rating categories was, in contrast, down year over year. Investment grade industrial issuance totaled $52 billion, down from the $62.3 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2006, while industrial speculative grade issuance contracted slightly to $31.8 billion from $32.1 billion in the first quarter of 2006. Industrial companies continued to favor long-term Long-term Three or more years. In the context of accounting, more than 1 year. long-term 1. Of or relating to a gain or loss in the value of a security that has been held over a specific length of time. Compare short-term. bond sales in the first quarter, with more than 70% of newly issued bonds carrying maturities of 10 years or more. At the end of March, the U.S. corporate bond market totaled $3.6 trillion One thousand times one billion, which is 1, followed by 12 zeros, or 10 to the 12th power. See space/time. (mathematics) trillion - In Britain, France, and Germany, 10^18 or a million cubed. In the USA and Canada, 10^12. in size, split 82% investment grade/18% speculative grade. However, the share of industrial bonds (excluding the highly rated financials) carrying speculative grade ratings stood at 31%. 'Given the surge in LBOs and other shareholder-oriented transactions, the share of industrial volume rated speculative grade is expected to continue to rise this year' said Mariarosa Verde Verde (vûrd`ē, vĕrd`ē), river, c.190 mi (310 km) long, rising in central Ariz. and flowing S to the Salt River. The valley supported early Native American civilizations and is dotted with ruins, such as those at Tuzigoot National , Managing Director of Credit Market Research. The bulk ($283.4 billion) of U.S. bond volume scheduled to mature through year end (in total $298.4 billion) consists of investment grade bonds, with the remaining $15 billion speculative grade issues. Approximately 2.3%, 4.0% and 6.3% of speculative grade volume is scheduled to mature in 2007 (9 months), 2008 and 2009, respectively. Among industrial issuers, $75.9 billion in bonds is scheduled to mature through year end. Utilities lead with $12.9 billion in bonds coming due (or 4.7% of utility volume), followed by telecommunication telecommunication Communication between parties at a distance from one another. Modern telecommunication systems—capable of transmitting telephone, fax, data, radio, or television signals—can transmit large volumes of information over long distances. ($8.1 billion, 4.5%), and energy ($6.5 billion, 3.6%). For additional information, please refer to the new report titled 'U.S. Corporate Bond Market: A Review of First Quarter 2007 Rating and Issuance Activity,' available on the Fitch Ratings web site at www.fitchratings.com under Credit Market Research. 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 criteria (krītēr´ē  ),n. 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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