On Friday, S&P raised its rating on the main Spanish banks by one notch. The decision came in the wake of the rating upgrde by the same agency for Spain’s public debt on March 23, so its “a logical move,” according to Renta4.
The credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings has begun to raise some Spanish companies’ ratings, which was expected after it improved its rating on the country from “BBB+/Positive” to “A-/Positive” on March 23. Bankia, Mapfre and state-owned Cores are the three chosen firms.
In January, Spain terminated its contract with S&P (tired of paying for being knocked done by the ratings agency). S&P then replaced its management team in Spain and now, in March, of its own accord, – because Spain did not ask for the qualification – decided, last Friday, to raise its credit rating on the country by one step, to A- from BBB+, with a “positive” outlook.
Repsol is the Spanish firm with the biggest exposure to Venezuela, which S&P has said is in selective default for failing to make $200 million in overdue coupon payments on its 2019 and 2024 global issues.
S&P published a specific note on Spain economy on 31/10 where it states that the recent events in Catalonia should not have any immediate impact on its rating nor its outlook (BBB+/Positive). At the same time, Moody’s published a note on Spain which is more cautious about the risks of implementing Article 155.
S&P has cut its outlook for Banco Popular to Negative from Stable (where it placed the bank on February 9), which opens the door to new rating trims. At the same time, Popular will hold its AGM today where the 2016 accounts (losses of €3.485 billion) are due to be approved by shareholders,
Fernando Barciela | Madrid leftwing Mayor Manuela Carmena (Ahora Madrid) upset the markets and the media last week with her decision to fire credit rating agencies Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and Fitch, effective from 2016.
After recently raising Spain’s sovereign ratings to ‘BBB+’ from ‘BBB’, S&P has also improved its stance on some of the country’s top banks. S&P’s upgrades comes in the same week as the Madrid local authorities said they could not renew the contracts with that agency.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | S&P has upgraded Spain’s credit rating for the first time since stripping the country of its AAA grade in 2009, increasing its assessment to BBB from BBB- and saying the outlook is stable. But ten-year Spanish bond yields stay at 3.004% following last week’s auction, while the U.S. benchmark 10-year note yield, was up 1.5 basis points at 2.550%, according to Tradeweb. A BBB player is getting more or less the same treatment in the market as a AA+.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor |Portugal and Slovenia’s debt comes back to the dangerous rate of 7%, while S&P’s responsible for EMEA defends that there is no immediate threat to peripheral countries’s debt since some of them have been able to pre-fund its needs.