U.S. corporate defaults hit record in 2009: Standard and Poor's

By Deborah Levine

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The number of companies who defaulted on their debt reached a record high in 2009, more than doubling from 2008 as the recession weighed heavily on companies with below-investment grade ratings, according to Standard & Poor's.

In 2009, 191 U.S. corporate issuers defaulted, the highest total in the 30 years S&P has been tracking defaults, Diane Vazza, a managing director at the rating agency, wrote in a report Thursday. The report is Standard and Poor's first ever focusing on U.S. corporate defaults. U.S. defaulters accounted for $516 billion in affected debt last year -- 82% of the global amount.

The speculative-grade corporate default rate in the U.S. was 11% at the end of 2009. The investment-grade default rate was 0.34% at the end of 2009, with only five companies defaulting. It was higher in 2008, at 0.73%