Downgrades increased by two last week to double the number of upgrades, which was unchanged. Negative outlooks and CreditWatch revisions also outnumbered positive ones by two. All eight downgrades occurred in North America and included three office REITs, one of which (Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc.) was the only new fallen angel for the week. There was also one new rising star, Apache Corp. (APA Corp.). There were four defaults, including a confidential issuer. The three public defaults were from three different sectors, with two U.S.-based issuers. Furthermore, two of the public defaults were because of distressed exchange.