Credit crunch hits Main Street

NEW YORK, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Frozen credit markets could push 125 major U.S. companies into default in 2009, business rating company Standard and Poor's said.

Limited loan availability and a tighter bond marker has created difficulties for commercial and industrial businesses, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Domino's Pizza said it agreed to allow some franchise owners to defer payments to the company. Marriott International has dipped into a $2.4 billion line of credit -- the first time it had to do so since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the Post reported.

Others companies are trimming staff, postponing expansions or canceling projects. Marriott, for example, pulled back from a hotel project at Ballpark Village, a $1.5 billion development project in San Diego, citing "the situation in the capital markets," the Post reported.

"Those companies are in distress or in urgent need of capital and don't have access to credit markets," Diane Vazza of Standard and Poor's told the Post.

"It really feels like there's a bunker mentality in the credit community, and that goes all the way to Main Street USA," David Brandon, Domino's chief executive officer said to the newspaper.