| Obligations rated Aaa are judged to be of the highest quality, subject to the lowest level of credit risk |
| Obligations rated Aa are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk |
| Obligations rated A are judged to be upper-medium grade and are subject to low credit risk |
| Obligations rated Baa are judged to be medium-grade and subject to moderate credit risk and as such may possess certain speculative characteristics |
| Obligations rated Ba are judged to be speculative and are subject to substantial credit risk |
| Obligations rated B are considered speculative and are subject to high credit risk |
| Obligations rated Caa are judged to be speculative of poor standing and are subject to very high credit risk |
| Obligations rated Ca are highly speculative and are likely in, or very near, default, with some prospect of recovery of principal and interest |
| Obligations rated C are the lowest rated and are typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal or interest |