S&P Urges Caution On Basic Materials Companies

ByJohn S. McClenahen Most global basic-industrial-materials companies were already in cyclical downturns before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., notes Standard & Poor's, New York, a highly regarded business credit rating service. Although S&P "does not anticipate a spate of rating actions in the very near term" it does, however, urge investors to evaluate "the sector's pricing and volume trends and individual companies' tactical and strategic decisions to address the [current economic] slowdown."