S&P lowers North American utilities outlook to negative on coronavirus risk

摘要

Partly influenced by coronavirus-related concerns, S&P Global Ratingslowered its outlook for the North American regulated utility sector tonegative from stable.Before the coronavirus became a serious concern, about 25% ofNorth American utilities either already held a negative outlook or hadratings that were on CreditWatch with negative implications, the ratingagency said in an April 2 note. "The North America regulated utilityindustry's credit quality was already weakening prior to COVID-19," S&PGlobal Ratings analysts wrote.