| Add to balance / Manage account | User: | Log out |
| Prospect News home > News index > List of issuers R > Headlines for Ratings > News item |
Moody's global speculative-grade default rate falls to 2.5% in January
By Caroline Salls
Pittsburgh, Feb. 11 - Moody's Investors Service's trailing 12-month global speculative-grade default rate came in at 2.5% in January, down from a revised rate of 2.8% in December 2013 and close to the prediction of 2.8% the ratings agency made last year, according to Moody's latest monthly default report.
No defaults were recorded among Moody's-rated corporate debt issuers in January, compared with five during the same period of last year.
"We remain in a low corporate default environment, driven by strong high-yield credit markets,'' Moody's Albert Metz said in the report.
"Default rates remain below their historical averages."
In the United States, the speculative-grade default rate declined to 1.8% in January from 2.2% in December. At this time last year, the U.S. rate was 3.3%.
In Europe, the rate also declined, to 4.1% in January from 4.2% in December. Last year, the European rate was 2.1% at the end of January.
Moody's said it expects the global speculative-grade default rate to end 2014 at 2.2%, before rising to 2.5% in January 2015.
By region, the agency predicts that the rate will be 2.3% in the United States and 1.9% in Europe at the end of this year.
Across industries over the coming year, Moody's expects default rates to be highest in the consumer services sector in the United States and the hotel, gaming and leisure sector in Europe.
By dollar volume, Moody's global speculative-grade bond default rate held steady at 1.1% from December's revised rate to January.
In the United States, the dollar-weighted speculative-grade bond default rate ended January at 0.3%, down slightly from 0.4% in December. In Europe, the dollar-weighted speculative-grade bond default rate declined to 3.4% in January from 3.7% in December.
Moody's said the trailing 12-month U.S. leveraged loan default rate finished at 1.9% in January, down from 2.2% in December.
© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere.
For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.