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Date	Synopsis	Length
2/6/2012	Why China's Economy Is Facing A Soft Landing In 2012 China's economy is poised for weaker growth rates in 2012. Tune is as Standard & Poor's credit analyst Terry Chan discusses some of the factors likely to affect the Chinese economy in 2012, including an analysis of the sectors that exhibit the highest risks.	00:04:11
2/3/2012	South African Infrastructure: Behind The Ratings On ESKOM, Rand Water, And Transnet Standard & Poor's rates three leading South Africa-based infrastructure companies: ESKOM, Transnet, and Rand Water. When evaluating the creditworthiness of these companies, we take into account our assessment of their stand-alone credit profiles and their links to, and roles for, the Republic of South Africa. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor's Director Michela Bariletti discusses our methodology for assessing the credit quality of these three rated entities and the main factors affecting their ratings.	00:09:49
2/3/2012	U.S. Leveraged Debt In 2012: The Markets Are Open, But Credit Risk Persists U.S. speculative-grade rated borrowers and market prices for leveraged loans are entering what may likely become a challenging year. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor’s Managing Director Bill Chew explains our 2012 outlook for the leveraged debt markets. Topics include key credit risks: default and recovery.	00:07:10
2/3/2012	U.S. State And Local Governments: How Credit Quality Could Bifurcate Standard & Poor’s believes that long-term budget concerns will compel many U.S. state and local governments to make more hard choices in 2012. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Senior Director Gabe Petek discusses the potential impact on credit quality, the budgetary adjustments governments have made to counter the tough economy, and how many states and localities face the political conundrum of how to tax citizens to fund services.	00:06:49
2/3/2012	U.S. Public Utilities: How Economic And Regulatory Risks Could Shock The System Standard & Poor’s believes that U.S. public utilities will likely maintain their credit stability over the next 12 months. However, the long term appears less clear. The weak economy continues to hamper the industry, and stringent carbon regulations could compromise the credit quality of many players. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Director Jeffrey Panger discusses how the situation could play out. Topics include gas prices, weakening demand, and how utilities are preparing for the new regulatory regime.	00:05:46
2/3/2012	The Rieger Report: Muni Yields Continue to Hit Record Lows This week, muni bond prices continued to rise, with yields hitting lows not seen in decades. High-yield muni bonds, as measured by the S&P Municipal Yield Index, once again outperformed the general market, returning just under 3.2% YTD. Listen to find out how the rest of the muni bond market performed this week.	00:06:12
2/3/2012	U.S. Theme Parks: What's Behind Standard & Poor's Cautious Optimism During 2011, Standard & Ratings took four positive rating actions on three U.S. theme park operators: Cedar Fair (B+/Watch Pos), SeaWorld (BB-/Stable), and Six Flags (BB/Stable). Will positive ratings momentum continue for these speculative-grade rated companies this year? In this CreditMatters TV segment, Associate Director Ariel Silverberg discusses why business conditions should remain stable despite inherent risks. Topics include cyclicality, cost containment, business risk profiles, discretionary spending, and what could stimulate further positive rating actions.	00:04:49
2/3/2012	U.S. Collateralized Loan Obligations: Issuance And Credit Trends In this podcast, Standard & Poor’s Director Zachary Wolf and Managing Director Howard Esaki discuss U.S. collateralized loan obligation (CLO) issuance and credit trends. Topics include the total issuance and how it compares to last year’s numbers, credit, and top exposures in U.S. CLOs.	00:04:46
2/2/2012	U.S. CMBS: Issuance And Credit Trends In this podcast, Standard & Poor's Head of Structured Finance Research Howard Esaki and Senior Director James Manzi, CFA, discuss the recent trends in the CMBS market, including issuance, tenant credit, loan workouts, and nonresidential construction.	00:04:28
2/2/2012	Economic Update: Oh The Possibilities! Standard & Poor’s Deputy Chief Economist Beth Ann Bovino notes that though this week’s modest ADP private payrolls report could give way to some job market worries, continued upbeat initial claims data help support expectations that the possibility that the boost to the U.S. economy and the jobs market we saw last quarter could carry through into this new year. The advance estimate of last quarter’s GDP growth was also weaker than expected, with growth largely driven by a buildup in inventories, though the healthy December construction spending report may bump up fourth quarter GDP growth higher after all.	00:02:58
1/31/2012	America Latina Se Prepara Para Un Periodo De Bajo Crecimiento Economico American Latina no esta inmune a los efectos de la incertidumbre económica global. Como afecta o afectaría esto a la región? En esta edición de CreditMatters TV, Lisa Schineller, directora en el grupo de calificaciones soberanas para America Latina en Standard & Poor’s discute la situación de las economías regionales. Entre otros tópicos, se enfoca en porque la perspectiva económica se esta deteriorando y como esto se compara con la crisis del 2008.	00:05:29
1/31/2012	Latin America: Bracing For Lower Growth Latin America isn't immune to the detrimental effects of global economic uncertainty. But just how has the region been affected? In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor’s Director Lisa Schineller discusses the state of the region's economy. Topics include why the outlook is deteriorating slightly, external versus domestic reasons behind the slowdown, and how the situation compares to the 2008 recession.	00:05:03
1/30/2012	EMEA Chemical Producers: Credit Outlook For 2012, Against A Weakening Economic Environment In this CreditMatters TV segment, Analytical Manager of Standard & Poor's European Commodites team, Karl Nietvelt, and Senior Chemicals Analyst, Oliver Kroemker, discuss how the weakening economic environment in Europe that we expect for 2012 could influence the performance and the ratings of European chemical producers.	00:05:26
1/30/2012	EMEA Oil And Gas: Are High Oil Prices Just Good News For Ratings?‬‪ What are the implications of persistently high oil prices for ratings in the EMEA oil and gas sector? In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor's Directors Karl Nietvelt and Simon Redmond talk about both upstream and downstream related credit issues. Topics include increasing investment, debt, and country-related risks, which accompany high oil prices. They also contrast the generally stable credit outlook for upstream companies with the continued challenges confronting European refiners.	00:11:50
1/30/2012	The U.S. Commercial Aerospace And Defense Industries: Charting Different Courses Despite a weak global economy, high fuel prices, and the potential for less available aircraft financing, Standard & Poor’s believes the U.S. commercial aerospace sector will likely enjoy a sustained period of increasing deliveries. The defense industry, however, won’t likely fare as well. In this podcast, credit analyst Chris DeNicolo discusses why the commercial aerospace and defense industries continue to diverge. Topics include the implications for credit quality, how defense companies are dealing with budget cuts, and how airlines will pay for new planes.	00:06:47
1/30/2012	Encana Corp.: Weak Natural Gas Prices Fuel Standard & Poor's Downgrade Standard & Poor's today lowered its corporate credit rating on Canadian exploration & production company Encana Corp. to 'BBB' from 'BBB+' due to weak natural gas prices. The outlook is stable. In this podcast, Associate Director Aniki Saha-Yannopoulos discusses our assumptions behind the downgrade, company strengths, and what could lie ahead.	00:08:00
1/27/2012	U.K. Banking: What If The Government Stops Supporting Systemically Important Financial Institutions? In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor's senior director Mark Button and director Giles Edwards discuss the implications of a curb on governmental support to the U.K. banking sector, including why Standard & Poor's continues to factor such support into the current ratings. Additionally, they discuss the U.K.'s Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA), which is the methodology we use to evaluate and compare global banking systems.	00:08:39
1/27/2012	The Rieger Report: Market Prices Rise as Supply and Demand Remain Out of Kilter As the Fed keeps yields down, muni bonds are still cheap relative to Treasuries though their prices have risen. In particular, high yield municipal bonds have outperformed the rest of the muni market. For more insights into muni bond market performance this week, listen to this week’s Rieger Report.	00:06:12
1/27/2012	Capital Markets Update: What Keeps Bond Spreads Contained For U.S. Health Care Companies? More than one-half of our ratings on U.S. health care companies fall into the speculative-grade category. However, despite economic pressures, such as high unemployment and the shifting of health care costs to employees from their companies, the industry enjoys good access to the bond markets with spreads little changed from a year ago. In this Capital Markets Update, Standard & Poor's Senior Director Peter Rigby examines the spread outcomes for speculative- and investment-grade rated health care credits.	00:05:54
1/27/2012	Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority: What's Behind Standard & Poor's Downgrade Standard & Poor’s recently lowered its issuer credit rating on Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority to 'CC' from 'CCC' following the Authority's recently announced comprehensive debt refinancing plan. What's more, the rating remains on CreditWatch with negative implications. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Associate Director Melissa Long explains why we view the plan as a restructuring, the next steps when applying our exchange criteria, and what could lie ahead.	00:06:11
1/27/2012	U.S. Recovery Rates: What’s Behind The Turnaround As more companies emerge from bankruptcy after defaulting in 2008 and 2009, Standard & Poor’s believes that recovery rates have rebounded but won’t reach their heyday highs of 2006 and 2007. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Associate Evan Gunter, of Global Fixed Income Research, compares the latest recovery rate with the historical average, the role of distressed exchanges in the recovery process, and the position of debt in the capital structure.	00:07:59
1/27/2012	U.S. Cash Flow CLOs Sail Smoothly Into 2012 Despite market volatility and a marginal uptick in loan defaults, U.S. collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) enjoyed a relatively calm 2011. Can we expect more of the same in 2012? In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor’s Senior Director Robert Chiriani and Associate Dan Hu discuss the overall performance trends of cash flow CLO transactions. Topics include how strong corporate loan performance led to CLO upgrades in 2011, and our outlook for 2012.	00:05:14
1/27/2012	Economic Update: What’s The Rush? Standard & Poor’s Deputy Chief Economist Beth Ann Bovino notes that in the Federal Open Market Committee’s monetary policy announcement this week, the Fed pledged to keep its interest rate target at near zero through at least late 2014, extending earlier estimates. It’s not surprising that they’re not in a rush--inflation is expected to remain tame and they are concerned that the recovery could falter, with recent mixed housing news. Although the Fed noted the “economy has been expanding modestly” and inflation is modest, it pointed out that the eurozone crisis poses significant risks to the outlook.	00:03:30
1/27/2012	Global IT: Why Slow Spending Growth Will Likely Continue In 2012 The positive rating change bias in global technology ratings should continue to moderate in 2012, reflecting the slowdown in IT spending growth that began last year. What’s triggering the slowdown? In this podcast, Standard & Poor’s Managing Director Bill Wetreich explains why sector spending growth continues to moderate. Topics include what’s behind the slowdown, how each subsector generates revenue, and why M&A activity is rising.	00:10:36
1/26/2012	Harley-Davidson: Rising Shipments And Sales Spark Standard & Poor's Upgrade Standard & Poor's recently raised its long-term corporate credit rating on Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson Inc. to 'BBB+' from 'BBB.' In this CreditMatters TV segment, Associate Director Jennifer Pepper discusses what triggered the upgrade, including the company's improved margins from its restructuring efforts, rising shipments, and increasing retail sales. Other topics include Harley's financial and business profiles, and what lies ahead in 2012.	00:02:39
1/26/2012	Latin American 2012 Corporate Credit Quality Should Remain Stable Despite Slower Growth Standard & Poor's expects most of the Latin American companies we rate to remain stable in 2012 due to softer but still positive economic growth in most of the region. In this podcast, Managing Director Eduardo Uribe discusses our outlook for corporate credit quality and what could lie ahead. Topics include the refinancing risks faced by weaker issuers, economic uncertainty abroad, and performance trends by sector.	00:08:37
1/26/2012	Calidad Crediticia De Empresas De América Latina En 2012: Estabilidad Pese A Menor Crecimiento Económico Standard & Poor’s espera que la mayoría de las empresas de América Latina que califica mantengan estabilidad en su calidad crediticia durante 2012 en medio de un crecimiento económico más débil pero todavía positivo en la mayoría de los países de la región. En este podcast, Eduardo Uribe, Managing Director de Standard & Poor’s, analiza nuestro panorama para la calidad crediticia corporativa en América Latina y lo que podría venir. Entre los temas analizados se incluyen los riesgos de refinanciamiento que enfrentan los emisores más débiles, la incertidumbre económica en el exterior y las tendencias de desempeño por sector.	00:09:24
1/26/2012	Why Global Risks Are Clouding The Credit Outlook In Asia-Pacific In this podcast, Standard & Poor's Chief Credit Officer Ian Thompson discusses some of the key credit-related issues in Asia-Pacific, including the major risks facing the region’s issuers in 2012. Topics include the sectors and countries most vulnerable to the ongoing instability in the eurozone.	00:11:01
1/25/2012	U.S. Not-For-Profit Healthcare: Holding Steady, But Looming Headwinds Could Hurt Credit Quality Standard & Poor's short-term outlook for the U.S. not-for-profit healthcare sector is relatively stable. However, we are concerned about looming headwinds that could hamper credit ratings in the sector beginning next year. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor’s Managing Director Martin Arrick discusses our expectations. Topics include why ratings could head downhill, the sector’s strategies to combat credit deterioration, and the potential impact of healthcare reform.	00:07:02
1/25/2012	U.S. Not-For-Profit Healthcare: Holding Steady, But Looming Headwinds Could Hurt Credit Quality Standard & Poor's short-term outlook for the U.S. not-for-profit healthcare sector is relatively stable. However, we are concerned about looming headwinds that could hamper credit ratings in the sector beginning next year. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor’s Managing Director Martin Arrick discusses our expectations. Topics include why ratings could head downhill, the sector’s strategies to combat credit deterioration, and the potential impact of healthcare reform.	00:08:10
1/25/2012	U.S. States: Managing But Preparing For More Budgetary Austerity Despite a steady revenue recovery, U.S. states are bracing for continued budget austerity given the current economic uncertainty and federal fiscal concerns. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor’s Managing Director Robin Prunty discusses the economic, budgetary, and revenue performance for U.S. states and what the key credit issues will be heading into fiscal 2013. Topics include the fiscal and policy headwinds facing states as they begin budget deliberations, federal fiscal concerns, and the states’ overall stable credit performance.	00:06:19
1/23/2012	European RMBS: Performance Could Diverge Further In 2012 Renewed economic deterioration last year does not bode well for mortgage credit performance in 2012, especially in countries that never really recovered from the previous economic and housing market contraction. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Mark Boyce, of the Structured Finance Research group, discusses the prospects for mortgage performance and the RMBS issuance outlook.	00:05:01
1/23/2012	What's Behind Standard & Poor's 2012 Outlook For European Corporate Credit In this CreditMatters TV segment, Martin Winn, Head of Communications EMEA, and Paul Watters, Head of Corporate Research, discuss the key factors of Standard & Poor's outlook for corporate credit quality in 2012. Additionally, they discuss Standard & Poor's expectations for the default rates of the sector.	00:08:18
1/23/2012	Why Refinancing Loans With Bonds Lowers Recovery Expectations European public debt markets are taking a bigger role in financing leveraged companies in the region, a trend that began in mid-2009 during the global financial crisis when bank financing dried up. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Marc Lewis, Standard & Poor's Director in the European Leveraged Finance and Recovery Ratings group in London, discusses the specific implications for post-default recovery expectations as companies increasingly use senior secured bonds to refinance bank debt.	00:07:19
1/23/2012	Growth Potential Remains For The Insurance Market In The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor's Associate Anvar Gabidullin and Director David Anthony discuss the strengths of the insurance sector in Saudi Arabia and other factors, such as the Zakat tax, that may hold the sector back. They also provide an overview of the ratings outlook for the region.	00:07:22
1/23/2012	Key Risks For European Business Service Companies In 2012 In this CreditMatters TV segment, Andrew Stillman, Standard & Poor's European sector coordinator for business services, and David Matthews, Standard & Poor's associate, discuss the key risks for the European business service sector in 2012. These risks include economic conditions that are worse than we expected, debt-financed acquisition activity, and shareholder-friendly measures. Additionally, they discuss austerity measures, merger and acquisition activity, and sector refinancing needs.	00:05:19
1/23/2012	Reformas A Régimen De Quiebras En México Impulsan Recuperación La escala de calificaciones de recuperación de Standard & Poor’s mide la recuperación nominal del principal e intereses tras un incumplimiento. De acuerdo con lo que muestra el desempeño de nuestras calificaciones de recuperación durante la crisis financiera mundial, las recuperaciones de la deuda de empresas mexicanas han mejorado favorecidas por el nuevo régimen de quiebras en el país. Además, las recuperaciones han estado en línea con nuestras expectativas. En este podcast, José Coballasi, Director de Standard & Poor’s, habla sobre la dinámica del proceso de incumplimiento y resolución en México.	00:05:18
1/20/2012	How The Spanish Electricity Tariff Deficit And Political Uncertainty Could Affect The Ratings On Utilities Spain's newly elected government recently extended the freeze on electricity tariffs that the outgoing administration imposed late last year. Standard & Poor's believes this could further hinder the government's efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate the country's electricity tariff deficit, especially in a period of economic austerity. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Director Michela Bariletti discusses how the tariff deficit and political uncertainty are factored into our ratings on Spanish utilities.	00:07:06
1/20/2012	The Rieger Report: Muni Market Suffers First Decline of 2012 J.R. Rieger discusses the performance of the muni bond market over the past week, which saw its first dip of the year on Thursday. So far in 2012, muni bonds have outperformed U.S. Treasuries but underperformed the U.S. equity and commodities markets. To find out which muni bonds outperformed the rest of the market and more, listen to this week’s Rieger Report.	00:06:25
1/20/2012	U.S. Auto Lease ABS: Strong Issuance Expected Standard & Poor's expects U.S. auto lease ABS issuance to exceed $10 billion this year as auto sales and lease volumes rise, and used-car prices remain robust. Auto lease ABS residuals have exceeded expectations since mid-2009 and are likely to remain within estimated levels in 2012, as long as fuel prices stay stable and the economy doesn't falter. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Senior Director Erkan Erturk and Managing Director Ted Burbage discuss the outlook for the sector.	00:06:02
1/20/2012	U.S. Midstream Energy: Why Credit Quality Will Remain Stable In 2012 Standard & Poor’s believes that the credit quality of U.S. midstream energy companies will remain stable this year, especially for players with exposure to crude oil and natural gas liquids prices. However, weak natural gas prices and narrow basis differentials could hamper some companies. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Director Michael Grande discusses investors’ concerns about the industry, including M&A activity, capital markets, and the potential for a double-dip recession.	00:04:58
1/20/2012	Capital Markets Update: What’s Driving Latin American Sovereigns’ Diverse Bond Spreads Latin America offers a diverse credit picture. What’s more, the region’s economies are so different, it’s not surprising that bond spreads among the sovereigns are taking diverse paths. In this Capital Markets Update, Standard & Poor’s Senior Director Peter Rigby examines the bond yields of investment-grade and speculative-grade rated sovereigns, their access to the capital markets, credit quality, and economic growth projections.	00:07:27
1/20/2012	How Low Natural Gas Prices Hurt U.S. Power Merchants Since 2008, U.S. power prices have declined almost 50%. Moreover, the low cost of natural gas continues to hamper prices. How could this affect the creditworthiness of unregulated power merchants? In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor’s Director Aneesh Prabhu discusses the trends shaping the sector. Topics include the impact on investment-grade and speculative-grade players and weak demand.	00:08:13
1/19/2012	Mexico’s Bankruptcy Reforms Spur A Rise In Recovery Prospects Standard & Poor’s recovery ratings scale measures nominal recovery of principal and interest following a default. As evidenced by the performance of our recovery ratings through the global financial crisis, recoveries on Mexican corporate debt have improved due to the country’s new bankruptcy regime. Moreover, recoveries have been in line with our expectations. In this podcast, Standard & Poor’s Director Jose Coballasi takes an in-depth look at the dynamics shaping the default and resolution process.	00:04:24
1/19/2012	Nielsen Holdings: Improving Maturity Profile And Lower Leverage Spur Standard & Poor's Upgrade Standard & Poor’s recently raised its corporate credit rating on Nielsen Holdings N.V. to ‘BB’ from ‘BB-’ because the company is amending its credit agreement and significantly lowering leverage. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Associate Director Tulip Lim discusses what’s likely in store for the company’s businesses, EBITDA, debt maturities, and what could prompt another upgrade.	00:04:53
1/18/2012	Structured Finance: Should 'AAA' Be The Only Way? Investors in structured finance securities remain highly focused on 'AAA' ratings—and consequently, so do issuers. But with the recent increase in banking system and sovereign risks, 'AAA' ratings are becoming harder to achieve. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Andrew South, head of European Structured Finance Research, discusses the historical prevalence of 'AAA' ratings in structured finance and if this is always in the market's best interests.	00:05:43
1/18/2012	Economic Update: No Merry Christmas For U.S. Businesses After All Sonika Tyagi reports on behalf of Standard & Poor’s Deputy Chief Economist Beth Ann Bovino who notes that December wasn’t such a merry month--at least for retailers, with sales coming in weaker than expected. In addition, the November U.S. trade deficit widened much more than expected. But the recent cheer for the U.S. manufacturing sector continues as manufacturing sentiment and industrial production this week signal ongoing momentum in the sector.	00:03:02
1/17/2012	Stable Outlook For Asia-Pacific’s Structured Finance Market In 2012 But Global Risks Remain Against a backdrop of continued uncertainty and volatility in global markets, Standard & Poor’s general manager for Asia-Pacific structured finance Managing Director Fabienne Michaux discusses the issuance and performance outlook for Asia-Pacific structured finance in 2012, including the RMBS, ABS, CMBS, structured credit and covered bonds sectors.	00:17:49
1/17/2012	International Tanker Companies Brace For A Rough 2012 In 2012, international tanker operators face declining asset values, tanker oversupply, depressed tanker rates, and rising bunker fuel costs. Moreover, companies will likely contend with the fallout from geopolitical events, such as trade sanctions against Iran, Europe's sovereign debt crisis, and volatility in the Middle East. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor's Director Funmi Afonja discusses these issues and the credit implications for rated tanker operators.	00:04:07
1/13/2012	Economic Update: Cheering Up On Most Fronts Standard & Poor’s Deputy Chief Economist Beth Ann Bovino notes that U.S. businesses continued to hire new workers last month and unemployment ticked down yet again. This likely gave consumers more confidence to borrow this holiday season, which led to the largest monthly consumer credit increase in a decade. The better holiday news gave non-manufacturers reason to be merry.	00:03:04

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