U.S. public finance rating actions trended heavily positive during the fourth quarter of 2013 for two reasons, said Standard & Poor's Ratings Services in a report published Monday.
One is that the rating actions simply reflect Standard & Poor's view that credit conditions have been strengthening recently for most public finance sectors.
The report, "U.S. Public Finance Rating Changes Were Strongly Positive In The Fourth Quarter, Driven By New Criteria," notes that this contributed to the higher number of upgrades than downgrades in the quarter -- a trend that now covers five quarters. However, the quarter's rating actions also include the implementation of our revised local government general obligation criteria.
For the fourth quarter, three of the public finance sectors had positive rating change ratios, while two were negative.
