BAC - Most sectors won't regain pre-pandemic credit ratings until well into 2022: S&P

S&P Global Ratings updates its COVID-19 sector recovery expectations as its views start to stabilize amid vaccine approvals and rollouts in developed countries."We still believe it will take until well into 2022 or, in some cases, 2023 and beyond for many sectors to recover to 2019 credit metrics," according to a report issued earlier this month.Here are some takeaways: Low interest rates may help M&A volumes and shareholder returns reach or exceed pre-COVID-19 levels as soon as this year.That would likely benefit the big investment banks, which not only advise on M&A but underwrite debt or stock offerings used to finance them. The biggest are: JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Bank of America (BAC), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Citigroup (C).Debt-financed M&A, though, brings credit risk and could delay a post-pandemic recovery of credit quality for issuers undertaking transactions.Sector views: In North America, restaurants' credit ratings are expected to recover in H1 2021,

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Most sectors won't regain pre-pandemic credit ratings until well into 2022: S&P