S&P puts US Steel on watch

Standard & Poor's said it placed the BB+ corporate credit rating on United States Steel Corp. on CreditWatch with negative implications.

"The CreditWatch listing reflects our concern that financial metrics will be inconsistent with the current rating, given the very weak operating environment, with U.S. steel mills operating at less than 50% capacity, and the lack of signs of meaningful recovery in steel end-markets in 2009," S&P analyst Marie Shmaruk said in a statement.

The agency said that the company has taken significant actions to restructure its operations but that it expects the company's relatively high fixed-cost structure to lead to significantly weaker financial metrics during the current downturn.

S&P said it expects the company's adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio to be below 4x.

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