Fitch: U.S. Public Finance Downgrades Increased Substantially in 2009

NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
According to the new Fitch Ratings report published today, during 2009, the
weakened U.S. economy continued to pressure U.S. public finance credits, which,
when combined with fiscal constraints, led to substantially more downgrades in
2009 than in the previous six years. There were 226 downgrades in 2009, compared
to 85 downgrades in 2008 and 42 downgrades in 2007.

During 2009, U.S. public finance downgrades outnumbered upgrades. This trend is
expected to continue in 2010 as Negative Rating Outlooks and Rating Watches
still heavily outweigh Positive Rating Outlooks (more than 4:1) and Rating
Watches (more than 6:1). However, a majority of the actual rating actions, 69%,
during the year were affirmations, with no change in Rating Outlook or Rating
Watch status. Additionally, 88% of Rating Outlooks were Stable at the end of
2009.

Rating changes:

--Downgrades: 226 credits, which represent 9% of all rating actions and
$163,202.9 billion in par value.

--Upgrades: 209 credits, which represent 8% of all rating actions and total
$45,198.8 billion.

--Downgrade to upgrade ratio (by rating action): 1.1:1.

--Downgrade to upgrade ratio (by par): 3.6:1.

Outlooks/Watches:

--Negative Rating Outlooks: 297 credits.

--Positive Rating Outlooks: 70 credits.

--Ratio of Negative Rating Outlooks to Positive Rating Outlooks: 4.2:1.

--Rating Watch Negative: 33 credits.

--Rating Watch Positive: Five credits.

--Ratio of Negative Rating Watches to Positive Rating Watches: 6.6:1.

A full report, titled 'U.S. Public Finance Rating Actions 2009', summarizing
these rating actions by sector can be found at www.fitchratings.com.

Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'.

Related Research: U.S. Public Finance Rating Actions 2009
http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=508686

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Fitch Ratings, New York
Sarah Repucci, +1-212-908-0726
Eric Friedland, +1-212-908-0632
Media Relations:
Cindy Stoller, +1-212-908-0526
cindy.stoller@fitchratings.com

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