Credit Ratings

Puerto Rico faced a possible downgrade of its credit rating as political leaders remained deadlocked over how to resolve the island's fiscal crisis seven days into a partial government shutdown. Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila and the opposition-dominated Legislature continued to hash over possible solutions for the crisis.

California saw the credit rating cut on $9 billion of bonds, sold to cover earlier budget shortfalls, after the recession hammered sales-tax collections and forced the state to tap reserves for a payment to investors. Standard & Poor's lowered its rating on the so-called economic recovery bonds one rank to AA, its third-highest rating.

Standard & Poor's lowered the credit ratings Tuesday on about $6.9 billion in debt securities of Atlantic Richfield, citing its heavy borrowings and the risks posed by low oil prices that the credit-rating firm expects to prevail throughout the 1980s. Though Standard & Poor's had some favorable things to say about Arco, the downgrading will have the effect of making it more costly for the nation's seventh-largest oil company to borrow money.

Tenet Healthcare Corp., the second-biggest U.S. hospital company, had its credit ratings cut by Standard & Poor's rating service two days after the company said it was forced to renegotiate a bank agreement. S&P lowered Tenet's corporate credit and senior secured bank loan ratings to B from B-plus and its unsecured notes two levels to B-minus from B-plus. The new corporate credit rating is five notches below investment grade and the unsecured rating is six below investment grade.

J.C. Penney Co. had credit ratings on about $5.4 billion in debt reduced to below investment grade by Standard & Poor's, which said a turnaround will take longer than forecast. The retailer's ratings were dropped one level to BB-plus from BBB-minus, S&P said. J.C. Penney has about $5.2 billion in debt, while its Eckerd drugstore chain has about $200 million in receivables not counted on the balance sheet. Shares of J.C. Penney, based in Plano, Texas, fell 59 cents to $16.61 on the NYSE.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services boosted Los Angeles County's bond rating Tuesday from A to A+, and issued it an AA- credit rating. The credit rating agency attributed the improvement to conservative budgeting and strong economic performance. The county's economic growth is tempered by looming healthcare shortfalls and massive healthcare obligations for retired employees, the agency said in a statement.

Boeing Co. had its credit ratings raised by Moody's Investors Service for the first time since July 1997 as the company reduced debt and increased its cash flow. The senior unsecured rating was raised one level to A2 from A3, and the short-term rating was increased to Prime-1 from Prime-2, Moody's said. Boeing is benefiting from record orders for its planes last year.

Kroger Co., Albertson's Inc. and Safeway Inc., the three biggest U.S. grocery chains, may have their credit ratings cut by Standard & Poor's as competing retailers take sales, the ratings service said Wednesday. The companies' credit ratings are under review for a possible downgrade to the lowest investment grade, according to a statement issued by S&P. The ratings of all three are two steps above junk, or non-investment grade. Kroger, the largest U.S.

Concerned that California's worsening financial picture could hurt its counties, Moody's Investors Service is considering lowering the credit ratings of the state's county governments. The Wall Street rating agency had already announced last week that it was considering a downgrade of California's rating in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the state's cloudy financial picture resulting from the energy crisis. The counties' bond ratings now range from Aa2 to Baa2.