January shows best ratings performance since April 2000, Moody's says

New York, Feb. 3 - Ratings changes had their best month in January since April 2000, according to Moody's Investors Service.

During the month just completed, 43% of ratings changes were upgrades, Moody's said.

That figure is marginally better than the 42% for September 2000; the last time the figure was higher was in April 2000 when the figure was 51%.

By comparison, the ratio was 17% in 2002 and 25% in 2001 and just 12% in the final quarter of 2002.

However Moody's said upgrades in January were mostly to smaller companies.

Downgrades in January affected an average of $1.74 billion of bonds and preferred stock per company compared to $537 million for upgrades.

By par value, upgrades accounted for 19% of rating actions, better than 9% in the fourth quarter of 2002 but below 32% in the third quarter of 2002.

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