Don't Let Rally Fool You: Commodity Firms Still Face Debt Cliff
- Extractive companies need to keep producing to repay creditors
- `Conundrum' has grim consequences as Moody's predicts defaults
Commodities Check: Should Investors Be Optimistic?
This article is for subscribers only.
If you think commodity producers are out of the woods as markets rally, here’s a reality check: many are still grappling to contain debt.
Another year of belt-tightening hasn’t kept pace with an earnings slump after prices collapsed. One gauge of leverage among mining, energy and agriculture companies continued to rise in the fourth quarter and is more than double year-earlier levels.