Standard & Poor's Global Credit Markets Digest.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's

Oct. 28, 2002--ASIA PACIFIC UPDATE--Here is the current lineup of top articles and research from Standard & Poor's Credit Information Services:

COMING UP:

-- Greater China CreditStats: The Story Behind the Numbers

-- Hong Kong Outlook Mixed

-- International Slowdown Impacts Taiwan

-- Mainland China Defies Slump

-- Depending on War Scenario, Oil Prices Worldwide Would Jolt Differently

-- End of Softwood Lumber Agreement and Tariff Issues Between U.S. and Canada

-- Monthly U.S. Energy Commodity Report

-- Liquidity in the North American Engineering and Construction Sector

-- Standard & Poor's Expands Criteria for Partially Guaranteed Issuers

-- Criteria for Multilateral Lending Institutions

-- Property Catastrophe Rate Increases Vary by Account Size and Region

-- Southeast Asian Sovereign Credit Quality: Heading in the Right Direction

-- Non-Profit Profits: Not a Contradiction

PUBLISHED:

RESEARCH REPORTS

CORPORATES

-- Sydney Water Corp.'s Ratings Unaffected by Shelving of Major

Billing System Project

-- AES Corp. Attempts to Beat the Refinancing Curve

-- U.S. Energy Commodity Prices Set For Volatility

-- Telecommunications in Latin America: Regulatory Risk in the

Spotlight

GLOBAL FIXED INCOME RESEARCH

-- Credit Lens Focus on Standard & Poor's Bond Ratings of the S&P

500 Index

-- Standard & Poor's Core Earnings Figures Released for the S&P

500

-- Number of Companies Defaulting in Third Quarter Declines

Globally, Dollar Amount Remains High

FINANCIAL SERVICES

-- Industry Report Card Released on U.S. Fee-Based Banks

-- Sophistication is Key to Stability for Global Insurance Market

-- Bank Loan Recovery Analysis For Oil & Gas Exploration And

Production Companies

-- Rationale for Downgrades, Reasons for Hope, for U.S. Life

Insurers

LOCAL & REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS

-- Spanish Local-Government Ratings Set to Withstand Changes in

Revenue Sources

STRUCTURED FINANCE

-- S&P: U.S. Office Mortgage Delinquencies to Rise Due to

Sluggish Economy; Los Angeles as an Example

-- State Statutes for the Securitization of Tobacco Settlement

Revenues

INFRASTRUCTURE

-- Industry Report Card: Australian Utilities

-- Regulatory Risk Sets Negative Tone for Ratings on Brazilian

Utilities

SOVEREIGNS

-- Elections Over, Brazil's President-Elect Faces Economic

Challenges

RATING ACTIONS

CORPORATE RATINGS

-- Ingersoll-Rand's $2 Billion Commercial Paper Program Rated

'A-2'; Ratings Affirmed

-- London Electricity Group Holdings Credit Rtgs Lowered to 'A';

SEEBOARD PLC Rtgs Raised to 'A'

-- AB Volvofinans Ratings Lowered Following Action on Ford; 'A-2'

Ratings Affirmed

-- Outlook on Russia-Based Oil Giant LUKoil OAO Revised to

Positive; 'B+' Rating Affirmed

-- Outlook to Positive on Russia-Based Oil Giant TNK

International Ltd; 'B+' Rating Affirmed

-- Tyco International Ltd. Ratings Still on Watch Negative After

Third-Quarter Earnings Statement

FINANCIAL SERVICES RATINGS

-- TIAA Global Market Inc. $500M Senior Unsecured Notes Assigned

'AAA' Rating

-- Old Republic Title Insurance Group Ratings Affirmed; Outlook

Stable

LOCAL & REGIONAL GOVERNMENT RATINGS

-- City of Madrid's EUR180 Million Bond Issue Assigned 'AA+'

Rating

-- Singapore's First Listed Property Trust, CapitaMall Trust,

Assigned 'A-' Rating

SOVEREIGN RATINGS

-- Pakistan's PRs20 Billion Bonds Rated 'B+'

PUBLIC FINANCE

-- Brisbane City Council's 'AA+/A-1+' Ratings Withdrawn

-- Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust Series 8 Pool

Program Bonds Rated 'AAA'

-- West Virginia Housing Development Fund's ICR Upgraded to 'AAA'

STRUCTURED FINANCE RATINGS

-- Rating on WuerttHyp 2001-1's C+ Notes Placed on CreditWatch

Negative; D+ Notes Affirmed

-- Central Finance's JPY22.6 Billion Series 2 Japanese Auto Loan

ABS Assigned 'AAA' Ratings

RESEARCH ANALYSIS

CORPORATES

-- Nichimen Corp.

-- Unocal Corp.

-- IMC Global Inc.

-- Goodrich Corp.

-- Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (The)

-- SES Global S.A.

-- National Foods Ltd.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

-- Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Co. and Related

Pool Members

-- Israel Discount Bank Ltd.

-- First International Bank of Israel Ltd. (The)

-- Deutsche Postbank AG

-- UFJ Bank Ltd.

LOCAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS

-- Aragon (Autonomous Community of)

-- Rome (City of)

PUBLIC FINANCE

-- West Virginia Housing Development Fund

STRUCTURED FINANCE

-- New Issue: Bank of America Mortgage Securities Inc.

-- New Issue: Amortizing Residential Collateral Trust

Copyright 2002, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services