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S&P Global Ratings thought leadership delivers essential and timely data-driven insights and analysis to the world’s financial markets.

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COVID-19 Impact

Key Takeaways From Our Articles

Our periodic roundup of key takeaways from our articles brings together all of S&P Global Ratings’ coronavirus-related research—including our regularly updated list of rating actions we have taken globally on corporations, sovereigns, and project finance.

Global Actions On Corporations, Sovereigns, International Public Finance, And Project Finance To Date In 2021

S&P Global Ratings has downgraded 1,361 global corporate (financial and nonfinancial) and sovereign issuers since Feb 3, 2020.

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Our weekly ratings digest, including key themes, publications, ratings changes, asset class trends, financing conditions, and debt issuance.

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Default, Transition, and Recovery:

The S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan Index Default Rate Forecast For Year-End 2021 Falls To 2.75%

Published April 20, 2021

We have revised our estimate for the December 2021 S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan Index issuer default rate to 2.75% from our prior projection of 3.5% because our outlook for the U.S. economy in 2021 has improved.

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U.S. Corporate Cost Pressures May Hit Profit Margins In The Near Term

Most U.S. corporate sectors expect the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and rising commodity and labor costs to drive up input prices this year.

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Credit Trends: Review Of Ratings Performance Highlights Resilience In 2020

The global coronavirus pandemic led to the deepest recession the world has seen since the Great Depression. Global GDP declined 4% in 2020 amid lockdowns to contain the virus' spread, while governments and central banks stepped in with unprecedented amounts of fiscal and monetary stimulus.

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At S&P Global Ratings we are continuously assessing the economic and credit impact of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. Subscribe to our Coronavirus Bulletin today and we will ensure you have all our latest research and forecasts as they are published.

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Economic Research:

Next Generation EU Will Shift European Growth Into A Higher Gear

Published April 27, 2021

The Next Generation EU plan could add 1.5% to GDP under our low-impact scenario over the next five years and 4.1% under a high-impact scenario, where we made different assumptions about the timing of disbursements, the absorption of funds, and the size of growth multipliers from public spending.

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U.S. Markets See Inflationary Ghosts; Macroeconomic Signs Disagree

As the U.S. economy looks set for its best year of growth since Beverly Hills Cop and the original Ghostbusters were battling for box-office dominance (that was 1984, for you young'uns), some financial market commentators are suddenly convinced that spiraling inflation is on the horizon--and that the Federal Reserve will be forced to tighten monetary policy sooner than it would like.

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S&P Global Essential Economics Newsletter

An inside view into how top S&P Global Ratings economists and researchers analyze macro, credit and market developments.

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Making connections is what we do best. Whether it’s developing critical industry relationships, or engaging with fresh ideas: you get immersive intelligence and real-world applications.

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The Hydrogen Economy:

Hot Air Or Future Reality?

Published April 22, 2021

The industrial gas sector is likely to be one of the first to benefit from the move toward a hydrogen (H2) economy. They already have much of the infrastructure, and the largest players are already running pilot clean H2 projects that could come on stream by 2030. Existing end markets, such as oil refining, chemicals, and later on possibly fertilizers, will likely also be among the early adopters of H2. Net zero commitments imply the full decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, but using hydrogen to do so would be extremely costly. We therefore see steelmakers' credit quality as most at risk since the sector's profitability has been weak for years.

Sustainable Finance Newsletter: April 2021

As of March 31, 2021, we've completed over 70 ESG evaluations. Five public ESG evaluations were released during the past month, including Algonquin Power and Utilities, Enagas S.A., Telefonica S.A., and Grifols S.A We also published several thought leadership pieces, including one outlining the factors influencing the transition finance market and one highlighting key governance trends in 2021.

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S&P Global Sustainable1

Check our new Knowledge Hub S&P Global Sustainable1, which highlights the first in a new series of research looking at the path to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Each week for the next four weeks, a new installment in this series will examine the different considerations as the global economy transitions to net-zero. The series will culminate in time for S&P Global Sustainable1’s inaugural flagship conference on May 25, Accelerating the Transition to Sustainability: A Journey Across the Global Value Chain.

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