Investment Grade

Fitch Ratings likes what it currently sees in Ford Motor Co., upgrading the automaker's credit rating Tuesday to investment grade from its long-held junk status. Determining the Dearborn, Mich., giant to now have “sufficient financial flexibility,” the ratings agency boosted Ford's rating to BBB-minus from BB-plus. Fitch said it “believes that the work that has been accomplished has put the company in a solid position to withstand the significant cyclical and secular pressures faced by the global auto industry.” Ford, now the second-largest automaker in the U.S., maneuvered itself out of a near-collapse in 2006.

Moody's Investors Service raised the credit rating for Ford Motor Co. to an investment grade Tuesday, giving its seal of approval to a corporate turnaround of the business that started with heavy borrowing at the end of 2006. The move returns control of the automaker's famous “Blue Oval” logo back to Ford. The iconic logo, with the Ford name written in distinctive script, was first seen on a Model A in 1928 and was pledged as collateral to obtain the loans. Moody's raised its assessment of the creditworthiness of Ford's automotive operations to Baa3, up from Ba2. Ford Motor Credit Co., the automaker's finance arm, now has a rating of Baa3, up from Ba1. The investment rating is an important measure of corporate health and will reduce the automaker's borrowing expenses.

Univision Communications Inc.'s credit ratings were raised to investment grade from junk by Standard & Poor's, which cited the company's dominant role in Spanish-language broadcasting after buying Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. Ratings for Univision, the largest U.S. Spanish-language television company, were raised one notch to BBB-, the lowest investment-grade rating, from BB+, S&P said. Univision's $3.

Fitch Ratings likes what it currently sees in Ford Motor Co., upgrading the automaker's credit rating Tuesday to investment grade from its long-held junk status. Determining the Dearborn, Mich., giant to now have “sufficient financial flexibility,” the ratings agency boosted Ford's rating to BBB-minus from BB-plus. Fitch said it “believes that the work that has been accomplished has put the company in a solid position to withstand the significant cyclical and secular pressures faced by the global auto industry.” Ford, now the second-largest automaker in the U.S., maneuvered itself out of a near-collapse in 2006.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, purveyor of the Academy Awards, received an investment-grade rating from Moody's Investors Service for a $35-million bond issue expected July 25. Proceeds from the tax-exempt bonds will fund renovation of a Hollywood building that will house the Academy's film archive, officials said. Moody's assigned an Aa3 rating for the Academy's variable-rate debt, which will be backed by revenue from the awards show.

Kmart Bond Rating Lowered: Moody's Investors Service downgraded Kmart's bond from Baa-2 to Baa-3, its lowest investment grade. Ratings under Baa-3 are below investment grade and are considered speculative. Moody's said it lowered the rating because lackluster retail sales nationwide are hindering Kmart's recovery efforts.

* Tenet Healthcare Corp. may have its debt ratings cut below investment grade by Moody's Investors Service. * U.S. media billionaire Haim Saban's plan to buy KirchMedia's stake in Germany's largest commercial broadcaster has hit a snag because KirchMedia's creditor banks are refusing to accept some terms of the deal.

Salomon Inc. Credit Downgraded: A major credit-rating agency lowered its opinion of the Wall Street firm, citing a big quarterly loss and problems in retaining top investment staff. Standard & Poor's Ratings Group downgraded $15 billion in long-term Salomon debt to a low investment grade and cut the investment firm's preferred stock to "junk" status. But the parent of Salomon Bros. Inc.

Global financial markets tumbled Tuesday as investor sentiment caved to the worsening government-debt crisis in Europe. The Capitol Hill grilling of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives on their role in the housing-market meltdown also undercut Wall Street, traders said. Financial shares led the market lower, although Goldman's stock rebounded. U.S. stocks, which Friday had hit 19-month highs, suffered their biggest sell-off since early February. The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 213.04 points, or 1.9%, to 10,991.

Executives from credit-rating firms Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's presented additional evidence Friday that management pressure to maintain their market share eroded the quality of investment-grade ratings and amplified the nation's financial crisis. Testifying before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, former executives who were closely involved in giving investment-grade ratings to complex financial instruments backed by shaky U.S. mortgages described how they were pressured to give Wall Street what it wanted.

In his continued effort to bring pressures to bear on the Los Angeles public school system, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad has committed more than $6 million to a high-performing charter school group to help it dramatically expand. The $6.5-million grant to the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools from Broad's education foundation, along with $3.

A proposed tollway intended to reduce traffic on Interstate 5 through South County might have to be financed with up to $245.9 million in junk bonds because of rising cost estimates and plans to bail out the struggling San Joaquin Hills turnpike.

Ford Motor Co. Chairman and Chief Executive William Clay Ford Jr. said Thursday that he would forgo all compensation until the company's automotive business is sustaining profitability, a move that brought applause from shareholders but little reward on Wall Street.

The number of companies worldwide having their credit ratings cut to below investment-grade, or junk, will decline for a second straight year as expanding economies boost companies' ability to meet debt obligations, Standard & Poor's said. S&P said 46 companies might fall to junk status this year, down from 65 in 2003 and 82 in 2002. Companies with credit ratings below BBB-minus at S&P are considered junk, or at a greater risk of not being able to repay their debt.

ICH Corp. of Louisville, Ky., said Thursday that it has agreed to invest more than $180 million in new common stock to be issued by Los Angeles-based First Executive Corp. in a deal aimed at strengthening both life insurers. The purchase will increase ICH's holding in First Executive to about 21% of the shares outstanding from the 9.6% stake it bought last October.

Univision Communications Inc.'s credit ratings were raised to investment grade from junk by Standard & Poor's, which cited the company's dominant role in Spanish-language broadcasting after buying Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. Ratings for Univision, the largest U.S. Spanish-language television company, were raised one notch to BBB-, the lowest investment-grade rating, from BB+, S&P said. Univision's $3.