U.S. municipal credit conditions remained depressed in the second quarter of 2009, reflecting a weakening that began in the third quarter of 2008 when the effects of the national recession began putting downward pressure on all public finance sectors, Moody’s Investors Service says in a report.
The ratio of municipal scale upgrades to downgrades remained at 0.7 to 1, the same level experienced as in the first quarter.
The 0.7-to-1 ratio is a new historical low point in municipal upgrades to downgrades and exceeds the 1.1-to-1 ratio set in the first quarter of 2003, also a recessionary time.
The downgrades for the second quarter of 2009 consisted of 48 separate actions, surpassing the first quarter of this year as the largest quarterly total since the third quarter of 2003 when 35 entities were downgraded.
