credit-market-ratings-performance-research Ratings /ratings/en/research-insights/credit-market-ratings-performance-research.xml content esgSubNav

Credit Market Research

Our credit market research encompasses ratings performance indicators (including upgrades and downgrades, defaults, outlook changes, weakest links, rising stars, and fallen angels) alongside default and issuance forecasts and financing conditions coverage.


Credit Research & Insights

We deliver forward-looking, actionable insights on market-moving trends and their effects on credit—leveraging our proprietary data, analytical expertise, and cross-discipline approach. Our research includes ratings analyses, risk assessments, and credit market forecasts.


This Week In Credit

Positive Rating Actions On The Up (Sept. 9, 2024)

Positive rating actions outnumbered negative actions by a factor of four last week. Rating activity was almost exclusively concentrated among speculative-grade rated issuers.

Harbour Energy PLC, a U.K.-based issuer from the oil and gas sector, became 2024’s 21st rising star.

There were no defaults last week, compared to three defaults the previous week.

READ MORE



This Month In Credit

On A Roll

Credit trends remain positive, despite recent market volatility, with upgrades outnumbering downgrades for a sixth consecutive month--the longest monthly streak since 2021.

July’s upgrades were concentrated among financial institutions, almost exclusively from Europe (six out of seven). Financial institutions account for the second highest number of upgrades in the year to date (38), closely following media and entertainment (41).

Negative rating actions continue to fall, with net bias at its highest level since February 2023. Downgrade activity remains primarily concentrated at the 'B-' and 'CCC/C' levels.

Global corporate defaults are still elevated but, in our base-case forecast, we expect U.S. and European speculative-grade default rates to fall to 3.75% and 4.25%, respectively, by June 2025.

READ MORE


Go Deeper Into Weekly & Monthly Credit Trends

Make decisions with conviction with a short- and longer-term perspective on current ratings trends. This Week In Credit is a data-driven research snapshot that delivers forward-looking, actionable insights on market-moving credit trends every Monday. On a monthly basis, This Month In Credit provides a comprehensive overview of weakest links, distressed debt, rising stars, and fallen angels, among other credit indicators.


Market Pricing


Confronting Credit Headwinds

In the near term, we expect credit pressures to intensify—with a world order that's increasingly fragmented and fragile.



Ratings Performance

READ THE FULL REPORT




What We're Watching

S&P Global Ratings expects additional credit deterioration in 2024, largely at the lower end of the ratings scale. An environment of increasingly rapid change requires financial market participants to adapt their playbooks.



Credit Conditions

Our regional and global Credit Conditions Committees—and the research publications we produce—provide financial market participants around the world with an essential resource for identifying and understanding prevailing and potential credit risks.


Our People