We maintained 982 ratings in Pennsylvania as of March 24, 2016. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Senior Director Larry Witte discusses the distribution of ratings across the sector's subsegments, rating actions in 2015, and the ratio of upgrades to downgrades.

Credit quality in this sector continues to sink due to steep declines in energy prices. Negative ratings actions and defaults continue to accrue, making it a good time to focus on recovery prospects and loss given default risk. In this CreditMatters TV video, Senior Director Steve Wilkinson explains the recovery prospects for our ratings on exploration and production players.

Low commodity prices continue to hamper prospects for U.S. capital goods companies. However, about 80% of these rated entities carry stable outlooks. In this CreditMatters TV video, Standard & Poor’s Senior Director Dan Picciotto discusses what’s in store for the sector this year.

In this segment, Senior Director Diane Shand discusses the trends shaping these industries and reviews the rating actions we recently took on J.C. Penney Co., Altria Group, HD Supply Inc., Pentair PLC, Perry Ellis International, ExamWorks Group, School Specialty, Dole Food Co., Levi Strauss & Co., Eaton Corp., Prologis, 21st Century Oncology Holdings, and Owens-Illinois.

Standard & Poor’s anticipates a long and bumpy road to regulatory clarity for the world’s largest insurers. Moreover, nine large global insurers designated as global systemically important insurers face uncertainty regarding capital requirements and rules of engagement. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Director Tracy Dolin-Benguigui discusses how the regulations will affect these insurers.

The number of rising stars increased to six with the addition four U.S.-based issuers; two of these are in forest products and building materials sector, and one each in the utility and health care sectors. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Associate Director Gregg Moskowitz explains the key trends and data points.

Oil prices have fallen by roughly 65% from their 2014 highs to about $39 a barrel as of March 29. Earlier this year, Standard & Poor’s lowered its ratings on several U.S. regional banks with large energy exposures. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Senior Director Stuart Plesser discusses how these banks stand up to stress testing and how they could fare amid prolonged price declines.

The yen's weak exchange rate has helped Japanese government revenue to grow more strongly in the past two years. Will the rebounding exchange rate cloud outlook for further improvements and why? Kim Eng Tan, Senior Director for Asia-Pacific Sovereign Ratings, discusses.

In the past few months, auto-related deals have reinvigorated the asset-backed commercial paper market. Moreover, the market will likely surpass $350 billion this year, its highest total since 2012. In this CreditMatters TV video, Standard & Poor's Director Dev Vithani and credit analyst Abraham Esses discuss what’s spurring issuance volume and why it's unlikely to be sustainable through 2016.

The distress ratio decreased to 24.8% in March, the first monthly decline since last May, led by commodities. However, the ratio is still relatively high. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Associate Director Gregg Moskowitz explains the key trends and data points.