S&P Takes Most Bearish Stance on U.S. Corporate Debt Since 2009

(Bloomberg) -- S&P Global Ratings was the most bearish on U.S. corporate debt in 2019 than at any other point in the last decade. Last year saw the most credit ratings downgrades for U.S. companies relative to upgrades since 2009, according to S&P data compiled by Bloomberg.

That didn’t stop the money from piling in. The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index surged 8.7% in 2019, its best year since 2002, as investors sought out a haven from negative rates overseas. Investment grade U.S. corporate debt returned 14.5%, its best year in the decade.

The credit rating agency issued downgrades for 676 issuers compared to 352 upgrades, which translated to an upgrade to downgrade ratio of 0.52 for the year. Most of those cuts, 580 in total, were applied to the high-yield corner of the market compared to just 194 upgrades.

Energy companies took the brunt of the cuts, posting an upgrade to downgrade ratio of just 0.28, the lowest of any industry. It wasn’t all bad news, the financial and utilities industries both received more upgrades than downgrades from S&P.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brandon Kochkodin in New York at bkochkodin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nikolaj Gammeltoft at ngammeltoft@bloomberg.net, Allan Lopez

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