<h3>New York Times falls further into junk territory</h3>

The S & P gave another kick to the old grey lady on her way down, cutting her rating from a B down to a B-plus. From Reuters:

Standard & Poor's on Thursday cut its rating on the New York Times Co (NYT.N) deeper into junk status, citing rising leverage in the midst of a newspaper industry slump.

A drop in ad revenue aggravated by the long U.S. recession will likely lead to a spike in leverage at the Times by 2010, S&P said in a statement. The rating agency said it expects the economy to begin to recover late this year, but there is significant uncertainty about when the newspaper ad slump will begin to heal.

Full article here.