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Rating Actions and Unrated Status

Fixed-income terms for downgrades, fallen angels, unrated securities, rated status, and weighted-average credit ratings.

Rating actions and unrated status terms describe changes, confirmations, or gaps in external credit opinions.

Use this branch when a downgrade, fallen-angel event, not-rated label, rated status, or weighted-average credit rating affects bond pricing, mandate eligibility, liquidity, or portfolio reporting.

Key Terms in This Branch

TermWhat it clarifies
DowngradeA rating reduction that signals a weaker credit opinion.
Fallen AngelA bond or issuer downgraded from investment grade to speculative grade.
Not Rated (NR)A security or issuer without a rating from the referenced agency.
RatedStatus indicating an external rating opinion exists.
Weighted Average Credit RatingA portfolio-level summary of holdings’ credit ratings.

What to Verify

Check the rating agency, announcement date, watch or outlook status, prior rating, new rating, affected issue, and whether the action changes index eligibility, covenant treatment, collateral haircuts, or mandate compliance.

Common Mistakes

  • Assuming a downgrade explains all price movement.
  • Treating not-rated as automatically speculative grade.
  • Ignoring forced-selling pressure after fallen-angel transitions.
  • Using weighted-average rating without checking concentration in weaker holdings.

In this section

Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.

[NOT RATED (NR)]

Not rated means a bond or issuer lacks a public credit rating from the referenced rating agency or rating scale.

Downgrade

A downgrade is a lower credit rating assigned to an issuer or security, signaling higher perceived default risk and borrowing costs.

Fallen Angel

A fallen angel is a bond that lost investment-grade status after a downgrade, often widening spreads and forcing sales by restricted investors.

Rated

A rated issuer or security has received a credit rating that investors use to compare default risk, pricing, and portfolio eligibility.

Weighted Average Credit Rating

Portfolio-level credit-quality measure that summarizes the average rating profile of a bond fund or fixed-income portfolio.

Revised on Sunday, June 21, 2026