Rating activity last week was slightly higher than the week before. While the number of upgrades was nearly triple that of downgrades, changes in outlooks and CreditWatch placements were balanced. There was only one default last week, due to a distressed exchange by the Swedish real estate company Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB. Comparatively, there have been an average of nearly three defaults weekly in the year to date. We added two risky credits to our list, both are U.S. nonfinancial corporates. Out of the 34 new risky credits this year, 25 are U.S. issuers. Despite a mixed week for benchmark yields, corporate and CDS spreads tightened across regions.