S&P Downgrades Nordstrom Rating By One Notch To BBB-plus

Standard & Poor's on Friday downgraded Nordstrom Inc.'s rating by one notch to BBB-plus from A-minus, citing weaker credit metrics and the expectation that the retailer will keep leverage above 2.0 times for some time. "Weaker performance became apparent in the third quarter of fiscal 2015, a result of unseasonably warm weather denting sales of winter apparel and a protracted promotional environment that continued into the fourth quarter, which contributed to continued weak holiday sales with 1% consolidated same-store sales," analyst Helena Song said in a statement. The outlook is stable, which means S&P is not expecting to change the rating again in the medium term. Nordstrom shares were trading down 9%, while the s&P 500 was down 0.3%.