Yesterday, Standard & Poor's (S&P) revised its outlook on ratings of Coca-Cola (KO: sentiment, chart, options) and its 2 main bottling units to "negative." Currently, KO sports an S&P rating of "A-plus," the firm's fifth-highest ranking. By issuing a negative outlook, S&P is hinting that it is likely KO will be cut during the next 2 years. S&P stated that the company's more aggressive financial policy has hurt the firm's credit quality. In addition, S&P's analyst noted that "Weak economic conditions in select markets and volatile commodity costs have pressured the Coke system's operating performance."

S&P views KO, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE: sentiment, chart, options) , and Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling (CCH: sentiment, chart, options) as a system, so it analyzes them together. CCE is slightly lower this morning, and it has announced that it will delay pricing a $1-billion bond issue that it announced earlier. KO is also slightly lower, after spending some of the morning in positive territory.