Share of U.S. corporate bonds sold rated investment grade by ratings agency 1992-2018
Since the Great Recession, the quality of corporate bonds in the United States appears to have declined, with an average of 76.5 percent of all corporate bonds for U.S. companies sold between 2010 and 2018 being rated by Moody's as investment grade. This compares to 90 percent of all corporate bonds sold between 2002 and 2007. The ratings provided by Standard & Poor's (S&P) during these time periods were similar.
