From: Jeffrey M Matusow To: Jeevacation <jeevacation®gmail.com> Subject: CIT's Bonds Gain After S&P Assigns Lender Junk Debt Ranking Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:38:49 +0000 As we expected, CIT was assigned a rating by S+P today - B+/B. The bonds rallied 1.5 points on the news. Jeff CIT's Bonds Gain After S&P Assigns Lender Junk Debt Ranking 2010-04-29 20:41:37.969 GMT By Pierre Paulden and David Henry April 29 (Bloomberg) -- CIT Group Inc. bonds rose after Standard & Poor's assigned the commercial lender a high-yield, high-risk rating four months after it emerged from bankruptcy. S&P assigned its B+/B ranking citing "the considerable transitional challenges CIT faces in transforming its funding platform," New York-based analysts Rian Pressman and Jeffrey Zaun wrote today in a report. S&P rated the company's unsecured debt B, five steps below investment grade. CIT securities have surged since the New York-based company emerged from bankruptcy in December, indicating bond investors believe the lender run by John Thain will be able to refinance its debt at lower costs. The lender reported a first-quarter profit of $97 million, or 49 cents a share, beating the average projection of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg for a loss of 25 cents a share. CIT's $7.36 billion of 7 percent notes due 2017 rose 1.5 cents on the dollar to 94.75 cents as of 4:34 p.m. in New York, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The bonds traded as high as 95.75 cents earlier in the afternoon. The bonds have climbed from 85 cents on Dec. 9, before CIT exited Chapter 11 protection, rewarding creditors from Loomis Sayles & Co. to Pacific Investment Management Co. CIT filed for bankruptcy in November after posting nine quarters of losses totaling more than $5 billion. The company emerged from court protection after cutting $10.4 billion of debt and delaying maturities by at least three years, with a plan to op