S&P: default rate for speculative-grade European companies expected to decline to 3.25% by June 2022

S&P Global Ratings expects the 12-month default rate of European speculative-grade companies to drop to 3.25% by June 2022, from 4.7% in June 2021. In this baseline scenario, 24 speculative-grade companies would go into default. This is what emerges from the report “The European Speculative-Grade Corporate Default Rate Could Fall To 3.25% By June 2022” signed by the US rating agency. In an optimistic scenario, S&P expects the default rate to drop to 2% by June 2022 (with 15 defaults), while in a pessimistic scenario, it expects the rate to rise to 5.5% (with 42 defaults).