The Credit Cloud: Global Funding

Globally, nonfinancial corporations will demand up to $53 trillion in refinancing and new debt needs over the next five years. China will likely surpass the U.S. as the world's largest borrower of nonfinancial corporate debt by 2014 or 2015.

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The FASB Proposal's Emphasis On How Companies Manage Financial Instruments Could Improve Financial Reporting

We greatly support the FASB's objective to provide financial statement users with more decision-useful information about a company's financial instruments, while concurrently simplifying the accounting for those instruments. The accounting treatment of financial instruments should reflect the fundamental business and economic purpose for transacting those instruments, and provide useful information on the amounts likely to be realized or paid. The optimal depiction of financial instruments should consider a company's asset-liability management model and its business strategy. In some cases, fair value accounting would best achieve those objectives; in other cases, amortized cost treatment may provide a better representation. This Proposed Update, expected to create a single, comprehensive standard for measuring financial instruments such as loans, securities, hybrids, and deposits within its scope, could be a significant step forward in simplifying and improving the quality of financial reporting.

U.S. Weekly Financial Notes: Law Of Gravity

What goes up must come down. That's how it feels when we look at the housing starts data, which plunged by 16.5% in April after reaching a five-year high of 1.021 million units in March. Although this was weaker than expectations, the 14.3% bounce in permits to another five-year high suggests more building over the next few months and good news for GDP growth. The housing starts data disappointed in April, falling by 16.5% to 853,000 units. It was weaker than consensus expectations for 970,000 units started, though it came after March starts surged to levels not seen in five years. Given the large jump in March, multifamily starts plunged by 37.5% in April. However, single-family starts also declined, by 2.1% over March. The two months of declines come after single family reached a new four-year high in February.

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Is Information Technology Really Trending Riskier?

In the 500 years after Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450, change came slowly to the world of information technology. But no more. Today, each new technology wipes out the value of innovations that were only a few years old. Cloud computing threatens to disrupt the disk storage industry, streaming is bullying broadcast television and DVDs, and handhelds are cannibalizing PC sales. Does this wave of rapid technological innovation point to a riskier sector? The industry's credit risk today is more likely vulnerable to general economic pressures than to innovation.

What Are Nontraditional Asset Securitizations?

Innovation and securitization go hand in hand. Indeed, securitization has evolved to its current state because it readily adapts to new asset types and structures. Alongside the mainstays of U.S. securitization asset classes--mortgages, consumer loans, and collateralized loan obligations (CLOs)--a group of smaller, less-prevalent, and often novel asset classes have thrived in the securitization market since the mid-1990s. We refer to these as nontraditional asset securitizations; other market participants also refer to them as esoteric assets or new assets. The assets backing these transactions often come from business sectors such as timeshare loans, shipping container leases, and structured settlements, which are narrow and small compared with the U.S. housing or auto markets. Investors appreciate the risk diversification that these assets typically provide and the securities’ relatively high yields.

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. 'BB+' Rating Affirmed, Outlook Revised To Negative On Operating Weakness

The outlook revision reflects that the company's financial risk profile has weakened as a result of continued tepid operating performance for the 12 months ended March 30, 2013, as average debt levels remained relatively stable. The company's leverage for the 12 months ended March 30, 2013, increased to about 4x, compared with 2.8x one year ago, and is on the high end of our indicative ratio of debt-to-EBITDA leverage of 3x to 4x for a "significant" financial risk profile. In particular, the company's operating performance for the recent quarter was hurt by a late start to the spring lawn and garden season, due to weather conditions. Credit metrics could remain weak for the current rating if the company does not recapture lost sales during the remainder of the lawn and garden season.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. Ratings Unaffected By Announced First Quarter Results

The decline in comparable store sales of 16.6%, substantial margin erosion due to the increase in clearance merchandise, and cash burn of about $959 million was in line with our expectations of a weak first quarter. In addition, the capital raising activities undertaken by J.C. Penney in the first quarter, including the $850 million draw down under the revolving credit facility and $1.75 billion term loan, were also expected. We believe there will be further meaningful changes over the next few months as the company rebalances merchandise among its new shops, private label, and national brands. We expect the re-introduction of promotions and couponing will help drive traffic over the next few quarters.

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Insurance Criteria

Insurance

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The Risks Of Chasing Yield

High Yield & Leveraged Finance

The Risks Of Chasing Yield
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Hot Topics In Servicing

Servicer Ranking & Evaluations

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Issuance Gets Back On Track

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U.S. Consumer Products 2013

Consumer & Retail

U.S. Consumer Products 2013

Financial Institutions Spotlight

A global report to help you better track the industry’s key issues and credit rating trends in the Financial Institutions sector.

European Economic Update

Monthly economic report from Jean-Michel Six, Chief Economist EMEA. S&P's view of where the market is going.

CLO Quarterly Trends

Provides a quarterly overview of the U.S. collateralized loan obligation (CLO) market, including new CLO issuance, rating actions and other trends we believe might interest market participants.

Economic & Quantitative Research

Each month, Standard & Poor’s Economic and Quantitative Research will provide readers with a snapshot of some of the most important macro-economic analysis, thought leadership and quantitative research published by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services.

CreditMatters Today

Covers the top Standard & Poor's headlines of the day based on select credit market news, analyses, commentary, and multimedia.

Understanding Ratings

A monthly newsletter that brings together articles, videos, and educational guides intended to provide insights into what credit ratings are and what they are not, the ratings process, current credit hot topics, and how ratings have performed over time.

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Special Report: Africa Taps New Debt Market

May 2013

A special report from Standard & Poor's Services team of experts looking into what has brought on the change.

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Credit Week Special Report: Global Economic Outlook

April 2013

Looking out into 2014, we expect the global economic expansion to gain a firmer footing as the recovery in the U.S. moves up a notch in strength

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Special Report: The Gulf- Shelter From The Storm

April 2013

High oil prices are fostering growth in the Gulf region and insulating the economy and credit quality of rated issuers from the economic and political turbulence surrounding them.

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Standard & Poor’s Global Aging Interactive Tools

March 2013

For the first time, S&P's Global Aging data is available via interactive tools on the Web and an iPad app that allow users to view the impact of aging on public finances.

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South African Corporates

February 2013

A recent publication looking at credit trends in the South African corporate sector, focusing on 40 of the larger companies.

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Top 10 Investor Questions For Global Corporates

January 2013

The fiscal cliff, eurozone economy, and China's growth top the list of investor questions for 2013 in this multimedia collection.

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Global Oil & Gas Producers: Navigating Through A Dynamic Period

January 2013

Learn more about the global oil and gas industry in this multimedia collection.

Insurance Criteria

An overview of newly published insurance criteria.

Gulf Cooperation Council

Gulf Cooperation Council: In the Middle East, Standard & Poor’s provide all our global e-services to the local markets from our regional office based in Dubai with support from our global network. Our services include the provision of independent credit opinions, indices, risk evaluation, fundamental and quantitative investment research and analysis solutions, data services, fund management ratings and securities information. Our regional focus and expertise resulted among others in the launch of the GCC regional rating scale in 2010 and S&P/Hawkamah ESG Pan Arab index.

HousingViews Blog

HousingViews Blog: HousingViews is Standard & Poor's blog on the housing market that features posts, reports and commentary from analysts across the S&P organization reporting on a wide-range of housing topics.

Infrastructure Views Blog

Infrastructure Views Blog: In addition to featuring Standard & Poor's reports and commentary, this blog is a forum for perspectives about the state of global infrastructure and includes guest contributions from respected professionals in many different fields.

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