Last week's combined total of nine upgrades and downgrades reflected a relatively quiet week in rating actions. Upgrades fell below one-third of the previous week's tally, though positive rating actions continued to outweigh negative actions due to an uptick in positive outlook and CreditWatch revisions. Downgrades were concentrated in the speculative-grade universe, while upgrades were evenly spread amongst speculative and investment-grade issuers. The downgrades included one sovereign, Republic of Congo-Brazzaville, which became a risky credit. There were no defaults last week, the first weekly absence since early September, meaning this year’s default tally remained at 123.