Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Markets

S&P Just Demolished One Big Distinction Between Emerging and Developed Markets

The anti-globalization lurch sweeping advanced economies could materially reshape the landscape for sovereign credit ratings, says Standard & Poor's.
Pedestrians walk past a reflection of the Elizabeth Tower, otherwise known as Big Ben, in a window near the Houses of Parliament in central London, at sunset on Nov. 29, 2016.
Photographer: Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS /AFP via Getty Images
By

On Wednesday, S&P Global Inc. dropped a bombshell on the sovereign-credit ratings community.

Sounding the alarm over the rise of populism in Europe and the U.S., the credit agency said key historic drivers of the creditworthiness of advanced economies over their emerging-market counterparts — the strength of institutions and quality of policy making — can no longer be taken for granted.