Credit Market

Kamakura Corporation reported Wednesday that the Kamakura index of troubled public companies made a third consecutive dramatic improvement in June after reaching its worst point, 24.3%, in the current recession in March. The Kamakura global index of troubled companies decreased by 2.4 percentage points to 16.4% of the public company universe in June. Kamakura defines a troubled company as a company whose short term default probability is in excess of 1%.

RiskMetrics Group, a leading provider of risk management and corporate governance services to the global financial community, today announced it is partnering with recognized credit modeling expert, Professor Edward Altman, to develop a new credit risk scoring system. The credit risk model will offer a forward looking estimator of the probability of credit defaults and the bond rating equivalent for publicly traded companies on a global basis.

Troubled Companies Decline to 18.8% of All Firms

Kamakura Corporation reported Monday that the Kamakura index of troubled public companies showed dramatic improvement in April after reaching its worst point in the current recession in March. The Kamakura global index of troubled companies decreased by 2.2% to 22.1% of the public company universe. The 2.2% decline in the index is the 12th largest decline in the 229 month history of the troubled company index. Kamakura defines a troubled company as a company whose short term default probability is in excess of 1%.

Kamakura Corporation reported Tuesday that the Kamakura index of troubled public companies deteriorated sharply in March after holding steady in January and February. The Kamakura global index of troubled companies increased by 1.1% to 24.3% of the public company universe. This is 0.3% above the current recession’s previous peak of 24.0% reported for December 2008. Kamakura defines a troubled company as a company whose short term default probability is in excess of 1%. The all-time high in the index was 28.0%, recorded in September 2001.

New research from TowerGroup finds that two proposed accounting amendments, coupled with severe downward pressure from the ongoing credit crisis, would significantly alter the ways banks and other lenders account for off-balance-sheet assets. The changes could affect trillions of dollars in consumer loans and potentially cut off sources of consumer borrowing at a time of shrinking liquidity.