The credit crisis continued to exact a toll on U.S. corporate credit quality in the second quarter of 2008. The par value of U.S. corporate bonds affected by downgrades totaled $115.4 billion quite a contrast to the second quarter of 2007 when downgrades affected a far smaller $23.8 billion in outstanding bonds. In fact, the total value of U.S. corporate bonds affected by downgrades over the past year, beginning with the second half of 2007 and including the first half of 2008, has now reached $423 billion more than the prior two years combined.
