More U.S. companies have defaulted on their debt this year than issuers from any other country or region, S&P analysts led by Diane Vazza wrote in a Dec. 24 report, according to Bloomberg News yesterday. As of last week, 111 companies worldwide had defaulted on their obligations, the highest tally since 2009 when the the figure hit 242 for the same period. About 60 percent of this year’s global defaults have come from U.S. borrowers, Vazza wrote, up from 55 percent a year ago, when 33 of 60 defaulters were American. After the U.S., companies from emerging markets were the second-largest defaulters, accounting for 23 percent of the pool, which is a smaller share than last year, according to S&P data.
