Standard & Poor’s Releases its Outlook for Building Materials Industry

July 9, 2008 - - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services expects the overall credit quality for the U.S. building materials sector to continue to be negative for the remainder of 2008. In addition, we expect the number of potential covenant violations to increase as bank agreements become more restrictive and earnings weaken. The likelihood of debt restructurings, liquidity events, and possible defaults has increased as the malaise of the housing downturn now appears to be having an impact on commercial construction markets. Overall market conditions weakened even further than expected in the first quarter, as elevated raw material and energy costs, declines in residential repair and remodeling activity, some falloff in the commercial construction sector, and bad weather had negative effects on volumes and profitability.

ProfitGuard Continues to See Heightened Credit Risk in the Market

July 9, 2008 - - Over the past several months ProfitGuard analysts have cited that credit risk is here and is in full force. PG continues to see corporate restructurings, bankruptcy filings, equity infusions, and the like.

Standard & Poor’s Releases its Industry Outlook for Aerospace and Defense

July 9, 2008 - - Commercial aerospace manufacturers and suppliers worldwide continue to benefit from record order backlogs, which should lead to increasing aircraft deliveries in the next two years. But jetliner orders will likely be materially lower in 2008 than in recent years and a portion of the backlogs could be deferred or cancelled, as ever-higher fuel prices and a slower economy depress financial results of airline customers, especially in the U.S. Nonetheless, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services expects the commercial aerospace sector's credit quality to remain fairly steady in the next 12 months.

ProfitGuard Reviews Navistar International’s Credit Metrics; Lowers Scores

July 9, 2008 - - ProfitGuard has reviewed Navistar Internationals recent results and has participated on the company the company conference call. Based on our evaluation of the company’s results of operations we feel that a downgrade to the company’s default score was warranted. Reasoning for the adjustment follows.

Navigating the Tough Economic Climate While Maintaining Sound Credit Practices

July 9, 2008 - - We are now more than half way into the year and it is no mystery that we are experiencing difficult economic times throughout the country. The global metals and mining sectors are very cyclical and are going to continue to have their ups and downs. However, with that said, what shouldn’t change is the way you manage credit.