Standard & Poor's U.S. public finance upgrades outnumbered downgrades in the first quarter of 2014, the sixth consecutive quarter with a positive tilt, the rating agency said Monday.
S&P said it raised 4.44 ratings for every downgrade in the public finance area, excluding housing. In the fourth quarter of 2013, there were 4.72 upgrades for each downgrade.
There were 625 upgrades and 119 downgrades in the state and local government sector during the first quarter. Roughly 85% of the upgrades and about one-third of the downgrades in this sector were associated with implementing revised local general obligation bond criteria, the rating agency said.
In the utility sector, there were 1.15 upgrades for each downgrade. However, in the fourth quarter of 2013, there were six upgrades for each downgrade in the sector, S&P said.
In the transportation sector, there were 10 upgrades and one downgrade, the rating agency said. Most of these rating changes related to S&P implementing revised criteria for mass transit revenue bonds.
S&P made 14 upgrades and 10 downgrades in the not-for-profit health care sector in the first quarter of 2014. In the fourth quarter of 2013, there were more downgrades than upgrades in the sector.
There were nine upgrades and two downgrades in the housing sector. Most of the upgrades occurred because of the upgrade of Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp., "which provides counterparty support in the form of a guaranteed investment contract," S&P said.
The only sector where there more downgrades than upgrades during the first quarter was the higher education and other not-for-profit sector. The upgrades involved three 501(c)(3) nonprofits, the dorm and parking auxiliaries of a public university, one independent school and one community college. The downgrades involved five private colleges and universities, two public universities and one 501(c)3 nonprofit.
