Moody's downgrades U. S. Steel

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded United States Steel Corp.'s (U. S. Steel) corporate family rating to Caa1 from B2, its probability of default rating to Caa1-PD from B2-PD and its senior unsecured ratings, including all industrial revenue bond ratings to Caa2 from B3. The speculative grade liquidity rating was downgraded to SGL-3 from SGL-2.

"The rating downgrade reflects U. S. Steel's weaker debt protection measures than expected and increase in leverage to 6.7x in 2019 from 2.2x the prior year due to difficult market conditions and a weak price environment as well as the increase in debt to fund strategic investments, including the acquisition of a 49.9% interest in Big River Steel. Performance and metrics will further weaken in 2020 as a result of further softening in demand amidst expectations for lower GDP as the coronavirus spreads globally," said Carol Cowan, a Moody's senior vice president and lead analyst for U. S. Steel, in a press release.

The agency revised the outlook to negative from stable.

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