This year's global corporate default tally rose to 23 as of Feb. 28, reaching the highest year-to-date tally since 2009, said S&P Global Ratings today in "Corporate Defaults Reach Their Highest Year-To-Date Total Since 2009." There were 15 defaults in February alone, marking the highest monthly total since November 2020.

"Nearly three-quarters of February defaults came from U.S.-based issuers, and U.S. corporate defaults this year are already over 2.5x higher than the year-to-date 2022 total," said Nicole Serino of S&P Global Ratings Credit Research & Insights.

U.S.-based media and entertainment led February defaults, but the retail sector leads defaults year to date with seven (over 30% of the global tally).

S&P Global Ratings forecasts the U.S. and European trailing-12-month speculative-grade corporate default rates could rise to 4% and 3.25%, respectively, by December 2023.

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